A sharp but moderate earthquakes was felt in Napier this afternoon.
Hitting at 3.41pm, it was reported by Geonett to have measured 3.5 on the Richter scale. An hour later there's been 200 website reports of it being felt in the region, mainly as "light" or "weak."
There was just one report of it being felt as a "strong" shake and none in the high or extreme categories. It was centred about 15km south of Napier, at a depth of about 18km.
A shallow shake of 2.5 was regsistered east of Ruatoria about 40 minutes later.