A 4.8 magnitude earthquake has rattled Christchurch.
Geonet said the shock hit at a depth of 11km, about 20km southeast of Darfield, just before 3.30pm.
It was a long, rolling shake - felt as far south as Timaru - and was followed by a magnitude-3.1 just 12 minutes later on the same fault line to the west of the city.
Cantabrians immediately turned to social media to describe the aftershock.
"Just round the corner from us in Rolleston, big and jolty out here, unmistakably local without looking! Deep breaths... and carry on. A few wee wobbles to follow,'' said Oli on a Trade Me community message board.
Another added: "My house is doing an impersonation of the interislander - rolling.''
On Twitter EmmaJayJenkins said: "Crazy earthquake made my car start bouncing around while we were waiting at the lights!``
RepsTweets said: "I'm still shaking, that was huge.''
Newstalk ZB reporter Brian Ashby said he heard the shake coming: "I was wondering if it was traffic, a big truck. All of a sudden then it hit, and it rolled. It probably lasted about 20 seconds.''
St John has not had an increase in emergency calls and no reported injuries following this afternoon's quake.
A magnitude 4 quake hit the city last Friday.
- Kurt Bayer of APNZ and Herald Online
