A strong earthquake has hit off the East Coast last night.

A New Zealand-based researcher is investigating "moonquakes" - a curious lunar phenomenon first discovered by Nasa's Apollo missions.

GeoNet said the 5km-deep quake struck 90km northeast of Te Araroa at 7.20am.

Borneo has been struck by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake according to reports.

The Horowhenua mayor elect has decided he will not be sworn-in under the roof of the current Horowhenua District Council building.

Sunday brunch has been a shaky affair for those in the East Cape who've been rocked by a "severe" 5.8 magnitude quake this morning.

A 4.7 magnitude earthquake has rattled the south Island 40km north west of Te Anau shortly before 7pm.

More than 4080 people have reported feeling the 4.4 magnitude quake which has hit northwest of Wellington.

The East Coast Lab has been launched to research New Zealand’s least understood subduction zone, the Hikurangi Trough. Made with funding from NZ on Air

There's no way to tell if a flurry of recent earthquakes which have rattled the country are signs of a big one to come, a seismologist says.

A severe quake initially believed to have struck Central Otago this morning actually hit south of New Zealand.

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Scientists can't rule out the possibility of a strong quake greater than magnitude 8 hitting the East Coast in the coming month.

Watch NZH Focus: A strong aftershock rocks the North Island's east coast, a 5.7 magnitude quake struck at 3.19 this morning. President Barack Obama becomes the first sitting US president to visit the isolated, landlocked Southeast Asian nation of Laos. And Mel Gibson’s new movie the World War II action drama ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ premieres to rave reviews at the Venice Film Festival.

One of the strongest aftershocks rocked the East Coast early today.

Hundreds of aftershocks rock the East Coast of the North Island - and seismologists warn they could go on for months.

The East Coast continues to be rattled by aftershocks with several moderate quakes jolting the region overnight.

Aftershocks have continued to shake the North Island after it was hit by one of its biggest earthquakes in decades.

Source: Facebook / Ali Rewi

Reports of damaged homes are starting to come following this morning's 7.1 quake which triggered a tsunami warning, closed schools and temporarily stopped trains.

The Earthquake Commission is downplaying a discrepancy where it failed to keep track of more than 2000 "remedial requests".

Scientists say it would have been impossible to predict today's earthquake even though a tremor a day earlier was probably a foreshock.

The New Zealand Transport Agency is asking motorists in the Eastern Bay of Plenty to be aware of the risk of rock-falls and slips after the earthquake and aftershocks this morning.

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The strength of this morning's 7.1 earthquake centred off the East Coast cut power to 1000 homes in Eastern Bay of Plenty.

The shutting of train lines in Auckland after this morning's 7.1 magnitude earthquake were just a precautionary measure, KiwiRail says.

This morning's M7.1 quake is the biggest to hit the north of the North Island in more than 20 years, when a M7.2 quake struck in a similar spot in 1995.

Source: YouTube: Susan Wood

Source: Twitter @MitchKinney

Watch NZH Focus: Tristram Clayton talks to NZME reporter Tess Nichol about events that followed this mornings North Island quake.