A series of small earthquakes hit the Bay of Plenty town of Whakatāne overnight. The strongest was a magnitude 3.3, as recorded by GeoNet.
The first quake struck at around 9:17pm last night. It was centered 10km north-west of Whakatāne at a depth of 12km.
A further 8 quakes followed, right up until 10pm.
Tremors continued throughout the night to the early hours of this morning.
The latest occurred just before 4am this morning at a depth of 5km.
Local Radio Station Radio 1XX posted a status to Facebook last night saying within 40 minutes, Whakatāne had experienced 15 earthquakes.
There are no reports of any damage.