KEY POINTS:
Building inspectors will today inspect Gisborne's central business district (CBD) 6.8 magnitude quake collapsed buildings and shattered glass last night.
No one was injured or killed in the 8.55pm quake but three buildings, including a block of apartments and two shops, collapsed, roofs caved in, water tanks and winery vats burst, parapets crashed to the ground and gaping holes opened up in roadways.
The quake was centred 50km offshore, southeast of Gisborne and 40km deep.
A Gisborne District Council spokesman told NZPA building inspectors would conduct a walk through of the CBD this morning to assess the damage.
"They will go block by block and slowly open up the town through the day," he said.
The CBD was expected to be closed until at least midday.
The quake was the biggest the spokesman had felt and "put the scares up me a bit".
Senior Sergeant Moera Brown said business owners would be stopped if they tried to enter the closed area.
"Our role is really to cordon off the central business area until the council and the Civil Defence team are in a position to be able to come and do some inspection of buildings in respect of structure and safety," Ms Brown told Radio New Zealand.
"There will be a group of experts available at first light to start that process."
She warned shoppers against trying to get into the central city until at least midday.
The quake was felt strongly in Wellington, Blenheim and Nelson and tremors were reported further down the South Island including Christchurch, Dunedin and Hokitika on the west coast.
Civil Defence Minister Rick Barker, who was in Hastings last night, was driving to Gisborne this morning to inspect the damage.
Mr Barker was warned - two years ago to the day - of the need for better computer modelling of the Hikurangi subduction zone, where the quake was centred, as a trigger for tsunami. Scientists estimated a significant tsunami at Gisborne would kill 2100 people and injure 5000.
- NZPA
