KEY POINTS:
Two earthquakes which hit the North Canterbury resort of Hanmer Springs this morning were strong enough to toss goods from store shelves.
The first quake, which struck at 8.55am, was magnitude 4.9 and centred 10km north of Hanmer Springs at the relatively shallow depth of 12km, according to GNS Science.
The second, 17 minutes later, was magnitude 4.1, and centred within 5km of the township, also quite shallow at 10km deep.
The first quake was a "big hit" which threw bottles and tins from shelves, Four Square store manager Kelly Whittleston said.
Before they had managed to clean up the mess, the second quake struck, but did not cause any problems.
A third earthquake, measuring 5.8 hit the Bay of Plenty and Gisborne regions at 9.33am.
It was centred 80km northeast of White Island at a depth of 130km below the earth's surface. The quake was felt from Whakatane to Gisborne, the GNS website reported.
- NZPA
