A seismologist says the spate of earthquakes in Canterbury over the past two days is completely normal.
Six quakes ranging between magnitudes of 2.1 and 4 have been registered in the last 48 hours.
Anna Kaiser said it would take decades for the quake rate to drop back to what it was before September 2010.
"These types of earthquakes are quite typical, it's the new reality for the Canterbury region following the earthquake sequence that started in 2010."
Ms Kaiser said the probability of a magnitude 7 earthquake hitting Canterbury is less than 1 percent.
