Watch an animation of the last 48 hours of earthquakes from Wellington and Seddon from Saturday 9am to Monday 9am.

What you need to know today in the aftermath of yesterday's 6.5 quake which rattled the centre of the country.

Much of Wellington's CBD will be off limits this morning as streets and buildings remain closed following yesterday's big quakes and aftershocks.

The Herald's political editor Audrey Young says the Press Gallery hunts as a pack and panics as a pack during a quake.

The faultline causing earthquakes in Cook Strait has a history of producing "swarms" of quake.

"We've been here 25 years, and that's the biggest one by a mile." Wellington residents share their quake stories.

Streets are closed and buildings are damaged in Wellington after a 6.5 magnitude quake earlier today.

Wellington commuter lines will remain closed tomorrow morning with no peak train services or bus replacements operating.

Map of the most recent earthquakes to hit New Zealand.

Wellington and the top of the South Island have been hit by a 6.5 magnitude quake this afternoon.

Wellington and the top of the South Island were hit by a 6.5 magnitude quake on Sunday afternoon. The quake, which was centred 30km east of Seddon, the site of all the seismic activity in the last couple of days, was 11km deep.

Wellington and the top of the South Island have been hit by a 6.5 magnitude quake.

Wellington was shaken by more aftershocks overnight following a "severe" magnitude 5.7 earthquake that rocked the capital.

The magnitude 5.7 earthquake that rocked Wellington yesterday was followed by more than 20 aftershocks and GNS Science says more are to come.

More than 20 aftershocks have been felt since a "severe" magnitude 5.7 earthquake rocked Wellington and the upper South Island today, with more to come.

The Wellington region has been shaken by another strong quake this afternoon, after a 5.7 earthquake rocked the capital city this morning.

Builders are laying off staff and say they face economic ruin in Christchurch because insurance companies and Fletcher EQR are taking too long to approve earthquake work.

Hawkes Bay residents were jolted by an earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale, just before 10am this morning.

Napier property owners given a year to get earthquake risk assessments on their buildings are likely to have the deadline extended another two years because there aren't enough structural engineers to do the work.

Disaster tourism in Christchurch's worst-hit eastern suburbs has been slammed by residents as totally insensitive and exploitative, new research shows.

New Zealand and Japan have vowed to increase cooperation on earthquake engineering and disaster recovery following the devastating quakes which struck both nations.

A 3.4 magnitude earthquake has struck the Coromandel Peninsula this morning.

A lawyer is before the legal profession's disciplinary body for allegedly settling a client's claim without his permission.