Earthquake swarm in Northern Hawke's Bay

More than 50 quakes have struck in roughly the same area as the 5.4 magnitude quake off the coast of Wairoa last week. Image / Geonet

More than 60 earthquakes have been recorded in the Wairoa District in an ongoing but mainly unnoticeable swarm since the 5.4 shake last week.

Most of them are regarded by national agency GNS as unnoticeable, but almost all have been in the same immediate area about 30km east of Wairoa where the 6.16pm Tuesday shake was recorded, which locals calculate to be beneath Long Point, Mahia Peninsula.

EQC deputy chief executive readiness and recovery Renee Walker said on Monday it had received eight claims for damage relating to that quake, six involving buildings and two for contents only.

Strong enough to be felt over a wide area, including Napier and Hastings, it was the first in the cluster, followed by two more over magnitude 4 later that night, and two more of similar magnitude about 24 hours later.

There were 11 others over magnitude 3 by midnight on Friday, but the series continued with more than 40 shakes mainly under magnitude 3, and unlikely to have been felt during the weekend and on Monday morning.

Considerable numbers of other quakes were recorded throughout the eastern region from East Cape to Porangahau, including one at 5.2 magnitute at 4.29pm today northwest of of Matawai. There have been others in the Central North Island.

Better known lately as a site for rocket launches, Mahia Peninsula now has some action below the surface. Photo / File

The swarm didn't surprise a local at the Mahia Store, who said she'd "felt a few", but less than half a dozen.

Customers in the school holidays had noticed the events — earthquakes and an overnight storm which caused some power cuts in the area.

Wairoa District Mayor Craig Little said the "big one" last Tuesday created some talk, but earth tremors are not unusual in the area, but usually nothing more significant than the rumbling of trucks through the town.

With "the app" on his phone he's aware of the ongoing but lessening quakes and said: "That's usually a good sign isn't it? The earth settling down, but we don't really know what's going on beneath."

The Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS) has not yet commented on the tremors.