The first quake at 10.16am was at a depth of 21km near the rural settlement of Pōrangahau. It was followed by a magnitude 5.4 earthquake at a depth of 17km a few minutes later in the same location, then two smaller quakes – a mag-3.9 and a mag-3.5.
More than 25 were reported in the hour after the first quake struck.
GeoNet reported the first two as “severe”.
The National Emergency Management Agency confirmed there was no tsunami threat triggered by the earthquakes.
Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group controller Ian Macdonald said residents could return following an earlier message that if the shaking was “long and strong” they should self-evacuate, particularly in coastal areas.
He confirmed there had been no major damage sustained in Pōrangahau, although the local school and some residents had evacuated.
Farmers Gretchen and Leyton King are no strangers to quakes, but a “rumbling and wobbly” magnitude 5.9, followed by three others in quick succession, had them running for the car.
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The Kings were home when the quake struck, describing it as the biggest they’d ever felt.
No stranger to earthquakes in Pōrangahau, by the time the third quake struck they decided to get out of the house where they felt safer waiting by their car.
“It was a fair jolt,” Gretchen King said, adding it went on for about 30 seconds followed by the aftershocks.
“We get a fair few earthquakes but it was the biggest we’ve ever felt.”
The “rumbling and wobbly” quake brought down a painting and mirror and a few items from household shelves, but there was no major damage to their house.
“It was a real back and forth,” she said.
