New Zealand's North Island felt tremors at 15:52 local time on Monday. The earthquake was reported to have the magnitude of 6.3, but it has not caused any major damages or serious injuries to the people and property there. US Geological Survey said that residents experienced major shaking, goods tumbling off shelves and pictures askew.

Local media said that the intensity of the earthquake was so great that it led a sculpture of a giant eagle suspended from the roof at Wellington airport to fell on the ground. Thankfully, no injury was caused to anyone when the sculpture fell on the ground. The one-ton eagle sculpture was there to mark the release of the second Hobbit movie.

Central New Zealand felt the shaking, including Wellington. Tranz Metro, Wellington rail operator, said that after shaking was felt, all train services were suspended. Rural areas close to the epicenter of the quake saw broken chimneys and windows because of the earthquake, said reports from local media.

Monitoring agency GeoNet confirmed that the epicenter of the earthquake was about 160 kilometers north of Wellington.

In 2011, an earthquake occurred in the city of Christchurch leading to death of 185 people and destruction of much of the downtown.