New Zealand's Shaken By Earthquake Resident Evacuates

About 90 minutes after the quake, a wave height of 30cm was measured at East Cape, with the New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence describing this as "the first tsunami activity" and warning that this activity "will continue for several hours".

New Zealand's North Island has been shaken by a 7.1 quake, with residents of the coastal areas of East Cape warned to move to higher ground.

The earthquake struck at about 4.40am local time and was centered about 80 miles northeast of Te Araroa at a depth of about 20 miles.

The quake was felt as far south as Akaroa - about halfway down the South Island - and as far north as Kerikeri, about 150 miles north of Auckland.

New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence, however, issued a "tsunami potential threat advisory" for all the country's coastal areas.

This was later upgraded to a tsunami warning for the North Island's East Coast, including Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty and the country's upper South Island.

Anyone living near the coast in the area was warned to leave their homes, take their radio with them and immediately go to higher ground.

People take shelter in an evacuation centre

At about 8.30am local time (9.30pm UK time), the tsunami warning was lifted, with Civil Defence saying that "the greatest tsunami activity has now passed".