Two people have been confirmed dead after a severe 7.5 earthquake hit North Canterbury early on Monday morning.

One person was killed when a Kaikoura homestead collapsed, while another died of a heart attack at a property at Mt Lyford.

The Kaikoura area was worst affected by the quake, and a military NH90 helicopter was being sent in to assess the extent of the damage.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/Stuff.co.nz A senior firefighter gives advice on dealing with the earthquake.

Did you feel it at your place? Send your information photos and videos to newstips@stuff.co.nz

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* Live coverage: Severe 7.5 quake rattles much of New Zealand

* Watch: Quake hits across the country

* What you need to know: evacuation points and welfare centres etc

* Where did the quake start?

* Tsunami sirens sounds across the country

* In photos: Severe quake hits New Zealand

* Ferry stranded after being unable to dock at Picton

* One person missing after Kaikoura homestead collapse

FAIRFAX NZ Acting Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee and GNS scientist Bill Fry address media after the 7.5 magnitude quake hit central New Zealand overnight.

A tsunami alert was issued for all coastal areas of New Zealand, with warnings waves could be from three to five metres high between Blenheim and Banks Peninsula.

The earthquake just after midnight was centred 15km north-east of Culverden, near Hanmer Springs, at a depth of 15km.

Shortly before 8.15am the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM) said a tsunami marine and beach threat was in force from Napier to north of Dunedin. Unusually strong currents and unpredictable water flows could be expected near the shore. "This means a threat to beach, harbour, estuary and small boat activities."

DYLAN JAMES A severe 7.5 earthquake hit North Canterbury early on Monday morning and a tsunami alert has been issued.

The threat for all other regions had been lifted, but unusually strong currents could be expected for some time.

Damage has been reported in many places across the country, and aftershocks continue to rattle many areas.

Roads in North Canterbury have been severely damaged and blocked by slips, while trains and ferries in both the North and South Islands have shut down.

Between Canterbury and Marlborough, highways, roads and bridges were closed due to quake damage.

EXPLICIT LANGUAGE: Some Wellington residents had their fingers on record as the 7.8 magnitude quake hit.

All trains in the South Island, and south of Palmerston North in the North Island, were cancelled, KiwiRail said.

The New Zealand Transport Agency said State Highway 7 was closed between Waipara and Springs Junction, as was State Highway 7A between Hanmer Springs and Tekoa Range.

State Highway 1 from Blenheim to Waipara could be closed for at least two days.

RNZ MORNING REPORT Low lying areas around Christchurch started being evacuated around 2 this morning.

The fire service sent a seven-member Urban Search and Rescue team from Christchurch to Kaikoura.

The earthquake was strongly felt in Christchurch, Wellington and Marlborough but also as far away as Taranaki, Hamilton and Auckland.

An interislander ferry was stranded at sea after being unable to dock at Picton immediately after the quake, and the Wellington ferry gangway was swept away.

1 of 50 New Zealand Defence Force Photos taken from a NZDF helicopter show massive rockfalls in several areas in the upper South Island. 2 of 50 NEW ZEALAND DEFENCE FORCE The major route from Christchurch to Kaikoura is impassable. 3 of 50 New Zealand Defence Force The NZDF sent helicopters to survey areas in North Canterbury that were rocked by a massive 7.5 earthquake early on Monday. 4 of 50 STACY SQUIRES/FAIRFAX NZ Historic Waiau Pub co-owner Lindsay Collins looks over the damage. 5 of 50 ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Hanmer hospitality workers rushed into the streets following a 6.3 magnitude aftershock at around 1.30pm. 6 of 50 ANTHONY PHELPS/REUTERS Local residents Chris and Viv Young look at damage caused by an earthquake along State Highway 1 near the town of Ward. 7 of 50 Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter Earthquake road damage State Highway 1. 8 of 50 STACY SQUIRES/FAIRFAX NZ Historic Waiau Pub co-owner Michelle Beri looks over the damage to her bedroom, grateful that she was not sleeping in it at the time. 9 of 50 ANTHONY PHELPS/REUTERS A railway line is damaged by an earthquake, near Tirohanga stream south of Blenheim. 10 of 50 SUPPLIED Stuart Smith stands in a crack in the road at Tirohunga flat near Kaikoura. 11 of 50 Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter Earthquake road damage State Highway 1. 12 of 50 ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF Precariously dangling shipping containers seen on CentrePort wharf in Wellington. 13 of 50 IAIN MCGREGOR/FAIRFAX NZ The Elms homestead near Kaikoura. 14 of 50 DEREK FLYNN/FAIRFAX NZ Ward resident Bryan Phipps surveys the damage to his Ward home after this mornings earthquake. 15 of 50 ANTHONY PHELPS/REUTERS Local residents Chris and Viv Young look at damage caused by an earthquake along State Highway 1 near the town of Ward, south of Blenheim. 16 of 50 ANTHONY PHELPS/REUTERS A truck drives over fractures caused by the earthquake, along a road south of Ward. 17 of 50 WESTPAC RESCUE HELICOPTER Slip near SH1 south of Kaikoura. 18 of 50 IAIN MCGREGOR/FAIRFAX NZ A slip near Mt Lyford. 19 of 50 Quake rattled seek shelter at parliament. 20 of 50 DEREK FLYNN/FAIRFAX NZ Trucks parked up on State Highway 1 north of Ward after this morning's earthquake. 21 of 50 STACY SQUIRES Clean-up at Culverden Four Square after the magnitude 7.5 earthquake. 22 of 50 Scott Hammond/Fairfax NZ Building damage on High St, Picton following Monday morning's earthquake. 23 of 50 Derek Flynn/Fairfax NZ Damage to Needles Bridge, north of Ward, Marlborough. 24 of 50 Scott Hammond / Fairfax NZ Builing damage on Picton's High St. 25 of 50 Scott Hammond/Fairfax NZ Damage to SH 1 north of Blenheim. Spring Creek bridge closed. 26 of 50 PAUL EASTON/FAIRFAX NZ Wellington's Days Bay Wharf was closed following the earthquake. 27 of 50 CAMERON BURNELL/FAIRFAX NZ. Confused central city residents in Wellington headed for Brooklyn fearing a tsunami. 28 of 50 Derek F;ynn Damage to SH 1, near Ward, an hour north of Kaikoura, following Monday morning's 7.5 quake. 29 of 50 JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAXNZ The Timaru town clock stopped after the major earthquake just after midnight. 30 of 50 JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAXNZ The Timaru town clock stopped after the major earthquake just after midnight. 31 of 50 MONIQUE FORD/FAIRFAX NZ Residents of low-lying areas of Wellington city were evacuated after a tsunami warning. 32 of 50 MAARTEN HOLL/FAIRFAX NZ Students are moved from an accommodation in Willis St to Cumberland House across the street, because of water damage. 33 of 50 KATARINA WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Wellington residents evacuated from a building in Willis St. 34 of 50 MONIQUE FORD / Fairfax NZ Wellington's ferry terminal damaged in Monday morning earthquake. 35 of 50 HAMISH MCNEILLY Civil defence staff keep people from Dunedin's St Clair beach. 36 of 50 MAAREN HOLL/FAIRFAX NZ Victoria University of Wellington's Kelburn campus is closed. 37 of 50 RICHARD BICKNELL @dickbicknell/TWITTER Earthquake damage at a Wellington home. 38 of 50 CAMERON BURNELL Glasson Cuba St. 39 of 50 TOM HUNT Pipes are broken with water leaking throughout a Wellington apartment building. 40 of 50 KATARINA WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Broken glass and damages seen at Wakefield St, Wellington. 41 of 50 MAT LEAR/FACEBOOK Dirty tap water from a home in Brooklyn, Wellington. 42 of 50 CAMERON BURNELL/FAIRFAX NZ. Quake damage seen in Wellington central. 43 of 50 Fairfax NZ The bridge at Wellington ferry terminal has collapsed. 44 of 50 NICK KINGSTONE Damage to buildings on Wakefield Street, Wellington. 45 of 50 Kelsey Thomson/Twitter Scene in a Wellington resident's home after a quake hit. 46 of 50 SAM SACHDEVA Plenty of people in the capital were woken up by shakes and damages were reported in many parts in the city. 47 of 50 Farmers in Cuba St in Wellington. 48 of 50 Supplied Fresh Choice in Nelson 49 of 50 Mark A'Court/Fresh Choice Nelson owner Fresh Choice Nelson 50 of 50 Shattered glasses in one of the buildings in Wellington.

St John incident controller Dion Rosario said resources were being sent into North Canterbury following the earthquake, including a command unit.

NZQA said New Zealand Scholarship examinations on Monday had been postponed at all schools/exam centres.

All NCEA examinations would continue as normal, and proceed at schools that were not earthquake-affected.

FAIRFAX NZ Evacuations are underway in Wellington as a tsunami warning sounds elsewhere in the country.

If a school had been affected and was closed, or students were unable to attend because of the quake, an emergency-derived grade process was available.

KAIKOURA AND AROUND

Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes to higher ground in Kaikoura, with two 6.2-magnitude aftershocks within an hour of the main shake, and a magnitude-6.0 quake around 2.30am. A magnitude-5.1 quake classed as severe hit the area around 6.15am.

NICK KINGSTONE Damage to buildings on Wakefield Street, Wellington.

The streets were lined with cars and Kaikoura's lookout was packed with locals and tourists.

The volunteer fire brigade were out checking on people while power lines were down across the district.

Major damage has been done to buildings, roads and railway lines. A major slip cut the main highway at Ohau Pt.

AAP Tsunami warning issued in Wellington after quake strikes NZ

WELLINGTON

The TSB Arena and BNZ Centre on the waterfront had the most damage, the Fire Service said.

Wellington Free Ambulance was swamped by calls for help, but there were no injuries directly related to the quake among them.

ROBERT KITCHIN/FAIRFAX NZ Residents from nearby apartment building evacuate to Taranaki Street in Wellington.

Many of the capital's residents were evacuated after a tsunami warning was issued for all coastal areas of New Zealand.

The water at Lyall Bay was reportedly sucked out by 200m, and residents of low-lying areas were urged to evacuate and move to higher ground.

The area appeared to have almost completely cleared out on the back of tsunami warnings.

Fairfax NZ The bridge at Wellington interisland ferry terminal has collapsed.

Hills surrounding the area were lined with people in cars seeking higher ground.

The sea surged in and out at Lyall Bay by several metres every couple of minutes.

In the CBD, hundreds of people were on the streets as building alarms sounded and fire trucks and police cars headed around the CBD.

MONIQUE FORD/FAIRFAX NZ Rachel Tevita (obscured by dog Max) with mother Lucy Tevita (right) with other family members, holed up in car amongst hundreds of others up Mt Victoria.

Windows in some high-rise office buildings were smashed, while plaster and masonry appeared to have fallen down from some buildings.

Near Civic Square, hotel guests huddled together in bathrobes while they waited for their buildings to be cleared.

In Wakefield St, directly opposite the Wellington City Council offices, large chunks of masonry fell from a building, smashing glass below.

Shattered glass in the stairwell of Wellington's Spark building.

Emergency services had shut the street down.

Along Willis Street in Wellington's CBD, people lined the streets and sat in hotel lobbies.

CHRISTCHURCH

A logging truck shed some of its load at Wellington's port.

One person died at a property at Mt Lyford, north of Christchurch.​

The low-lying seaside suburb of Sumner was deserted after residents evacuated, and schools closed for the day.

Lyttelton tunnel has been closed until further notice.

Victoria University in Wellington is closed.

A New Brighton family who evacuated their home after the quake returned to find their house ransacked by burglars.

Matt Mill said they family-of-four had left their home about 2am, after the tsunami risk was broadcast.

They returned to their Bower Ave home about 6.30am to find their home damaged, not from the shaking, nor any tsunami, but by burglars who took advantage of a suburb empty of people.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ A tsunami warning sign south of Hanmer Springs on Monday morning.

Mill said the burglars stole televisions, sports gear and distressingly, a transmitter for his daughter's hearing aid. His work truck was also stolen.

Linwood resident Alice Coats said the tsunami sirens have been going went off intermittently for a couple of hours.

The quake felt like a long wave, Coats said.

Mykele Johansen/Hayden Rose Power lines in Nelson go off like fireworks after a strong quake rattles New Zealand.

"So, we all knew it was a big one."

As soon as the tsunami warning came in, it was a little more frightening, so she jumped into her car with her flatmate, and went to the airport.

Coats said the vagueness of the Civil Defence warnings were frustrating.

Derek F;ynn Damage to State Highway 1, near Ward, an hour north of Kaikoura, following Monday morning's 7.5 quake.

Tsunami sirens started sounding along Christchurch's coastline at 2.14am.

A significant amount of traffic moved away from New Brighton and other coastal suburbs towards central Christchurch and the Port Hills

Police and Civil Defence have closed the tunnel (State Highway 74), which links Christchurch with the seaside suburb of Lyttelton.

JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAXNZ The Timaru town clock shook to a halt just after the quake hit.

The tunnel has been closed temporarily for checks following previous large earthquakes.

In the CBD, hotels and occupied buildings were evacuated.

HANMER SPRINGS AND AROUND

ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ A slip on the Hanmer side of the Waiau Ferry bridge, close to where the earthquake struck.

Hurunui locals struggled to get into Waiau, near the quake's epicentre, to check on family and friends left isolated after the initial earthquake, with roads around the area badly damaged and blocked by massive landslides, .

Corey Odonnell tried driving to Waiau, but parts of the road appeared to be impassable. Fallen farm buildings are scattered along the road from Culverden to Waiau.

From the air, it is clear there is significant damage in the rural township which is south-east of Hanmer Springs.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Another shot of the slip on the Hanmer side of the Waiau Ferry bridge.

Power poles are down, large cracks are visible in the roads, bricks have fallen from the sides of many houses and chimneys have fallen from buildings. In the cemetery headstones have toppled.

A small amount of liquefaction can be seen from the air, bubbling through the bowling club green and nearby brick walls have fallen.

Jane Thompson, who lives near Cheviot in North Canterbury, said it was a "long, rolling earthquake".

JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ Rothwell and surrounding streets evacuated after Tsunami warning following 7.5 magnitude earthquake

All residents on the Cheviot water scheme and rural water schemes have been asked to conserve water, and should continue to boil water as a precautionary measure.

MARLBOROUGH AND NELSON

Thousands of Marlborough residents lost power after the quake.

Derek Flynn 14112016 News Photo - Derek Flynn/Fairfax NZ. Major earthquake strikes Marlborough. Indie Beer (4) and Emily Elliott (13) pictured at the Civil Defence Evacuation centre at Ward at 3am.

A 33,000 volt line north of Ward was damaged, and there were reports of wires breaking, Marlborough Lines operations manager Brian Tapp said.

SH1 was closed at Ward with damage reported at the Ure Bridge.

Bridges at Spring Creek and near Tuamarina were also closed, while damage was assessed.

SCOTT HAMMOND/FAIRFAX NZ Tsunami warning sent alarmed Czech backpackers to Taylor Pass road near the Wither Hills, Marlborough.

The Marlborough harbourmaster closed Tory Channel to shipping.

Nelson resident Jo Davis grabbed her children and sheltered in a doorway as the quake seemed to "go on forever".

The former Christchurch resident said it was a much longer, more rolling motion than the 2010 Canterbury quake.

JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ Firefighters evacuate residents in coastal areas of Timaru.

Davis, who lives in the central city suburb of The Wood, said she was surprised there appeared to be no damage to the house.

"It really shook for a long time."

BLENHEIM

FAIRFAX NZ Serious earthquake damage in Blenheim town centre.

Shop windows were broken in central Blenheim.

Blenheim Countdown store manager Liz Nelson said the earthquake had knocked a lot of stock off the shelves.

"There's a bit of damage on the back wall, cracks in the plaster, but mostly it's stock on the floor," she said.

FAIRFAX Smashed glass and shopfront damage in central Blenheim.

There were unconfirmed reports of looting. A police officer who stopped at the Countdown told staff about potential looting at a nearby chemist.

Blenheim resident Gemma Adams said she was lying in bed when she started to feel the bed swaying.

The length of the earthquake made it terrifying, Adams said.

@ThomasMeadia/.TWITTER More damage along Leader Road, Canterbury, just inland of SH1.

"We were lying there going, 'what do we do, what do we do'."

Adams and her partner ran to the kitchen and got under the table.

Electricity was lost between Ward and Seddon and also in other pockets around Blenheim and surrounding townships.

@ThomasMeadia/TWITTER More damage along Leader Road, Canterbury, just inland of SH1.

WEST COAST

State Highway 7 was closed between Springs junction and Hanmer Springs.

Power was lost between Granity and Meybille Bay, north of Punakaiki.

Evidence of the quake's force at a Nelson supermarket.

HAWKE'S BAY AND GISBORNE

Hundreds of people in low-lying areas in Hawke's Bay and the Gisborne-East Coast evacuated following the quake.

About 300 people gathered at Haumoana School after fleeing the coastal settlements of Haumoana and Te Awanga.

The tsunami threat was reduced to beach and marine only at 6am and residents were cleared to go home but told they must stay of the beaches.

While the quake was widely felt, there were no reports of damage in Hawke's Bay or Gisborne.

Hawke's Bay civil defence emergency management group group controller Ian Macdonald said a 20cm wave was recorded at Napier Port about 3am, believed to have been caused by the earthquake.

Macdonald said sirens were not activated as the evacuation zone was very small and "we didn't want to evacuate entire areas".

"Those needing evacuation were individually door-knocked," he said.

MANAWATU, WHANGANUI AND TARARUA

A tsunami warning and evacuation for Herbertville and Akitio was later reduced to a marine and beach threat.

WAIKATO AND BAY OF PLENTY

The tsunami warning for Waikato and Bay of Plenty was lowered to a marine and beach threat, but Civil Defence warned that could change.

In Hamilton, Wayne Timmo woke to the kitchen blinds banging against the window and said the quake felt like a "long slow, rolling or almost rotating motion".

"The water in the neighbour's swimming pool was left sloshing around for about a minute and people woken by the quake came out onto the street to talk about it.

TARANAKI

Thousands of people were without electricity in New Plymouth, Stratford, Eltham and Hawera, and some powerlines came down.

AUCKLAND

The quake was felt in Auckland, including at Middlemore Hospital, where patients were sent running from their beds.