© GEONETMore than 2000 people had reported feeling the 5.0 quake in Opunake by 6.30am.
The quake, which hit at 5.59am on Tuesday, 10km north of the town at a depth of 14km had been felt widely throughout the lower North Island.
Geonet initially classified the quake as a "severe" 5.2 magnitude, before revising it down to 5.
Aftershocks could be expected in region after the quake, Geonet duty seismologist Dr Anna Kaiser said.
"The most likely scenario is smaller aftershocks over the coming days, but we can't rule out there will be another one the same size."
It was not unusual activity for the area, she said.
"We saw a similar size in 2015 and others in the high fours in 2013."
The earthquake is a good reminder for people, she said.
"Hopefully people will be prepared and have their emergency kits and plans in place."
More than 2000 people had reported feeling the quake by 6.30am.
SHAKEN AWAKE
A woman in Opunake was thrown across her bed by the quake.
"I found myself on the other side of the bed - lucky i have a king sized or I'd have been on the floor," Janene Barker, who lives on Auroa Rd, said.
Her car, parked outside the house, moved a metre in the shake.
However, apart from a candlestick which toppled off a table, nothing fell and there was no damage, she said.
STOCK OFF SHELVES
Opunake's two Four Squares both had products fall off shelves.
The Opunake Four Square had a few bottles of mayonnaise come down but nothing was broken, Henrietta Waikari said.
"One aisle had a few mayos fall off. I wasn't here, I was at home brushing my teeth.
"I heard it coming, I thought 'what is that?' At 5.40am I could hear the birds, they were all chirping outside but then they all went quiet."
Business was busier than usual because a lot of people were woken by the quake and came in to buy groceries earlier than normal, she said.
Extra staff were also called in to help clean up fallen shampoos at Foursquare 45 on Opunake's main street.
"I had stuff fall down all over the place. It certainly was a sharp quake, I ran under the doorframe," duty manager Sassi Potier said.
The mess was cleaned up pretty quickly and there was no other damage she was aware of.
At Opunake Farmsource, Peter Burnnand arrived at work to find some plastic bottles fallen off shelves in one or two aisles, but nothing broken.
He was already awake when the tremor hit.
"It certainly made you get out of bed real quick."
"We've had a few earthquakes here but this was one of the biggest we've had."
'VERY, VERY STRONG'
It was "very, very strong and very sharp", Darrell Hickey, who lived on the edge of Opunake, said.
"It just appeared to be one sharp bang. The whole house sort of just jumped, then that was the end of it."
Suzie Stanley, who lives north of Opunake, said the quake was stronger and louder than usual and caused a plate and a jewellery holder to fall of shelves.
"It didn't go on for as long as they can do here but it was definitely a good shock," she said.
It was also noisy.
"We're on the main road. We have trucks going past all the time and that was what it sounded like...like a huge truck coming," Stanley said.
"(Husband) Noel jumped out of bed and said, ' woah this is a big one'."
Meanwhile Gypsy Nerida said she initially thought someone was up to no good: "I'm in a housetruck west of Opunake, so feel quakes really well. It was severe, I was convinced someone was jumping on my deck to wake me up, and rocking the truck violently at the same time".
"It must have lasted at least 30 seconds, then tailed off, which made me realise it wasn't man made, lol." (sic)
'REALLY GOOD JOLT'
Opunake woman Sonia Brown described the quake as "like an really annoying alarm clock that you can't turn off".
"It didn't make anything crash down in our house but a friend got flipped out of his bed. It made him sit straight up.
"Here, it was a really good jolt."
Bruce Fergus said the quake woke him up: "Good rock and roll".
Jenny Russell at the Opunake Beach Holiday Park said that while the quake felt big, it was no stronger than some others she had experienced.
"It did feel bad. I was still in bed ... The bed was wobbling around," Russell said.
It was kind of a "side-to-side" shaking. "It went on for a little bit", maybe 20 seconds.
"It felt big ... but we've had ones like that before."
The Fire Service had not yet received any quake-related call outs.
Taranaki civil defence emergency management officer Shane Briggs said they had not received any requests for coordination help from emergency services and it was unlikely there would be a need for a civil defence response for a magnitude 5 earthquake near Opunake.
"We do get these down there. It's part of the normal earthquake sequence."
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