A shallow 4.2 magnitude earthquake has been detected near East Cape, after a strong aftershock near Wellington this morning.
This afternoon's tremor, at 2.16pm, was centred 55km east of Tokomaru Bay at a depth of nine kilometres, GeoNet reported.
It rated six for Mercalli Intensity - the power with which it was felt on the Earth's surface.
There were no immediate reports of damage.
It followed this morning's strong aftershock in the swarm of quakes affecting the area south of Wellington.