It is "highly unlikely" anyone would have felt a strong quake that rattled an offshore area east of the country this morning.
GNS seismologist John Ristau said this morning's magnitude-5.0 quake was centered 495km north-east of Gisborne, at a depth of 10km, and struck just after 10am.
It was not likely anyone in the Gisborne area would have felt the quake, he said.
"If it was a closer to shore... of course it would be a fairly sizeable earthquake that a lot of people would feel. But that far off shore it's highly unlikely that anyone would feel it."
Mr Ristau said there was no tsunami threat as a result of the tremor.
