The quake was centered 30km east of Tauranga.

A deep magnitude-5.5 quake has been felt across the North Island.

It struck about 10.50pm and was 257km deep, GeoNet reported.

Did you feel the quake? Email us at newstips@stuff.co.nz

More than 11,000 people reported feeling the quake. GeoNet, which monitors seismic activity, has previously said deeper quakes were often widely felt, especially on the East Coast of New Zealand.

"This #eqnz (earthquake) was so widely felt because the subducting tectonic plate under the North Island's East Coast allows seismic waves to travel further," GeoNet posted on Facebook

In Napier the quake was felt for about 30 seconds, with "a bit of a cracking sound". Monday was the 89th anniversary of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake.

In rural Gisborne, Peter Humphreys said the quake was a "gentle 15 second tremor".

Dawn in Tauranga, who was closer to the quake's centre, said she felt the earthquake at Pyes Pa. She said it was like a lifting up rather than a shake or rattle.

Courtney Bignell, also of Tauranga, said her bed was shaking a bit, as was her bedside table.

It was felt in Murchison, in the Tasman Region of the South Island, by Merridee Watson who contacted Stuff.

Further south, in Christchurch's Belfast Gwen Hindmarsh described it as only very light, but said "it moved both ways like the Kaikoura one did."

Lorraine and Les Arrowsmith of Hastings described it as "a gentle shake" with a sideways movement, while in Palmerston North Donna Thompson told Stuff it was a good size "rock and roll type."

In Levin, Sophia May said it made her cat scratching tower sway. Helen Highsted-Jones said she felt it in Levin too.