Small quakes shake South Island

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Two earthquakes rattled the South Island this morning.

A magnitude 4.8 quake hit 75km west of Te Anau about 1.30am, GeoNet said.GeoNet said the quake was 14km deep and described it as "strong".

Meanwhile, another small quake struck in the north of the South Island about the same time.

The magnitude 4.6 quake struck 45km east of St Arnaud, GeoNet said.

The quake, which struck at 1.40am, was 24km deep.GeoNet described the quake as "moderate".