Lower North Island earthquake: Magnitude 4.9 quake strikes northwest of Paraparaumu

A moderate magnitude 4.9 earthquake has rattled the lower North Island this morning.Within 10 minutes of the quake, nearly 15,000 people had reported feeling it to GeoNet, including four who reported extreme shaking and 16 who described it as severe.The quake struck about 30km northwest of Paraparaumu at 6.34am.GeoNet said it was at a depth of 29km and classified the shaking as moderate.The earthquake comes after a series of sizeable quakes around the country this week, including two moderate earthquakes near Milford Sound on Wednesday evening.The first, a magnitude 5.5, struck about 40km northeast of Milford Sound at 6.13pm.It was followed less than an hour later by a magnitude 5.6 quake about 35km northeast of Milford Sound.Several smaller earthquakes were recorded in the same area afterwards.Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.