Thousands of people felt the quake in New Zealand with media reporting buildings swaying and items falling from shelves.

Powerful New Zealand earthquake sees South Island residents warned to stay away from coast - Magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck on Tuesday afternoon off southwest coast of Fiordland national park

The tremor– initially recorded at a 7.0 magnitude– hit at 2:43 pm local time (0143 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) off the southwest tip of the country’s South Island