A magnitude 5.9 earthquake early Friday morning was felt widely across the North Island, causing some people to leap out of bed.

GNS Science said the quake was located 30 km north of Taupo at a depth of 150 km.

It struck at 4:02 am and was felt widely felt across the North Island.

There were reports on social media that some people could hear it coming.

The quake was strong enough to get people out of bed and lots of comments were flowing on sites such as Twitter.

"Someone's just had a sizable quake. Felt strongly in Napier. Anyone else get the shakes?" wrote one Twitter user, with plenty of replies that it had been felt.

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