The quake, which struck at 9.19am, was centred 15 km north-west of Culverden at a depth of 9km, GeoNet reported.
© GEONETThe quake, which struck at 9.19am, was centred 15 km north-west of Culverden at a depth of 9km, GeoNet reported.
A "severe" magnitude 5.2 earthquake in North Canterbury has been felt across the country.

The quake, which struck at 9.19am, was centred 15km north-west of Culverden at a depth of 9km, GeoNet reported.

It was felt widely. On GeoNet's site more than 1350 people lodged "felt it" reports.

GeoNet duty seismologist Dr Anna Kaiser said it was certain the shake was an aftershock from the big Kaikoura one on November 14.

"That's definitely within the aftershock area of the Kaikoura earthquake."

She said it was "very typical" to see that type of aftershock following a quake of the magnitude of the one in November.

As of January 19, GeoNet had predicted an 89 per cent chance of one or more aftershock between magnitude 5 and magnitude 5.9 occurring on the next 30 days.

'Good sharp bump'

Marble Point Winery, about 10 km northwest of Culverden, lost bottles of wine in the shake.

"It was a good shake here, we lost wine off the shelves. We only just got round to picking up courage to put some back up there," owner Sheryl Dennis said.

"You hear the noise and you think it's going to be worse than it is."

Cheviot Fire Brigade chief Grant Burnett said the earthquake "certainly shook things around" at the fire station.

"I heard it coming but it was just a good sharp thump."

Burnett said they weren't expecting any damage.

Four Square Hanmer Springs manager Mark Emsley said the quake went on for a few seconds and wasn't too bad.

"I was standing in the aisles and the shelving just rippled and a few things fell off the top but not a lot. That was about it really."

He said everything that fell was cleaned up in a couple of minutes.

"It's been a good break since the last big shake and hopefully we don't have any more."

Carolyn Allison said the shaking was "definitely" felt in Culverden township.

"Heard the noise before it struck and then the movement which didn't last very long."

Ronnie Chatham said he felt the quake in Kaiapoi, Christchurch: "We felt the shaking at Pines Beach".

The quake was followed by two small aftershocks, measuring magnitude 2.5 and 2.4 respectively. An earlier magnitude 4.2 tremor struck 35km north-east of Seddon at 4.14am.

GeoNet originally put the 5.2 earthquake at magnitude 5.0, and centred it 10km north-west of Seddon, but that was later changed.

A magnitude 6.3 quake briefly put as near Opotiki on Sunday morning was a ghost quake, GeoNet said.