Thousands of Wellington office workers were evacuated from buildings after today's initial shake and were milling around on footpaths along Lambton Quay and The Terrace.
One worker at Bowen State House where the Ministry of Social Development said the shake sent computer monitors crashing to the floor. The building's lifts were out of action until they had been inspected and staff were also being told to go home for the day.
Greater Wellington Regional Council staff who were clearing items from their multi-storeyed "yellow-stickered'' building in Wakefield St huddled under desks when today's earthquake struck.
"It was pretty freaky,'' said senior communications adviser Philippa Lagan, after staff were given the all-clear to leave the building.
Ms Lagan said a staircase in the building had been declared seismically vulnerable even before last month's big earthquake, which prompted the council to accelerate a move to safer quarters at the port.
But dozens of staff had been back in the building when it began shaking again horizontally yesterday afternoon.
"I don't really know how long it went on for - it was quite a while, perhaps 30 to 60 seconds,'' said Ms Lagan, who had been on the eighth floor of the 10-storey building.
Speaking from the relative safety of a Wakefield St cafe, she said she did not want to return to the building.
"I'm not going back, ever,'' she said.
She noticed some buses returning to the streets, after initially being suspended, but voice was drowned out by a passing fire engine.
Chef Ruth Pretty, 60, was packing up her ice cream van when the quake hit.
"It was scary. It was a long rolling one.''
"Everyone came out of the buildings.''
"We did notice a lot of people leaving towards the train station. Everyone seems to be going home.''
A bank worker was on the 13th floor of the Vodafone Tower on Lambton Quay when the earthquake struck.
"It was pretty shaky. We all got under our desks,'' she said. "We've just been relocated from the BNZ building which was wrecked in the last quake.
"People were a bit teary, a bit shaken.''
Seven-month pregnant Mads Berry (37), of Khandallah, said she was at her sister's house in Abel Smith St, Te Aro, and was at a party and half way through singing happy birthday when the earthquake hit.
The birthday party was being held on the second floor of a building more than 100 years old.
Her sister Rose Kirkup grabbed all the children at the party and held them under a table.
The earthquake was a "sharp shake, pause and then another sharp shake."
It felt like it went for a long time and felt worse than the last big earthquake in Wellington.
She was driving home to Khandallah, and was in traffic at Johnsonville when contacted.
The traffic was "quite bad," it seemed everybody in the city was heading home too, she said.
New Zealand Herald political columnist John Armstrong said the earthquake was felt strongly in Parliament.
He was about to dive under his desk when the the almost-30 second shake stopped.
He said his partner had felt it more strongly on the sixth floor of the Ministry of Social Development building nearby.
Buildings in Wellington were evacuated, and one CBD worker said it wasn't much fun experiencing the quake from the top floor of one of the city's highest buildings.
He and his workmates were recovering from the shake at a nearby pub.
A Christchurch woman said she felt the shake in the city. It was described as long and rolling.
"But it won't be as bad as in Wellington. It's bringing back some bad memories, we're all feeling a wee bit seasick.''
Blenheim resident Thelma Sowman said it had caused damage to her house.
"A heap of water's come out of the pool.
"It just rocked from side to side and appeared to go up and down as well, so it was much bigger than the one we had not so long ago."
She says it felt like it went on forever.
"Seemed like forever, but I'd say maybe 30 to 40 seconds. It was quite a rock after it, and we've been just getting little shakes since."
Blenheim mother Emily Stein said this quake felt much bigger than the last one.
"You could see the floor of the house wobbling and you could see all the fences around shaking and all the windows were shaking."
She said it was nothing like she's felt before.
"Its way bigger, hugely bigger, like with the other one because we had heaps of after shocks with the other one they were just not anything to kind of panic about."
Central city worker Jo Miller was on the first floor of a two-storey Wellington building when the quake struck. She and colleagues dived under their desks, holding hands as plaster fell from the walls.
"It was a rolling quake, you could feel it coming. We realised pretty quickly it was something big.''
She could see stunned people on the streets outside, but no major damage or injuries.
Miller was in Christchurch for the 7.1 September 2010 quake and said today's did not feel as strong.
Rick Depczynski, 45, a recruitment consultant from Avalon, Hutt Valley was on the 7th floor of Prime Property House on Lambton Quay.
"It was pretty horrible, the waiting. Then there was the big jolt. Our office was okay but a couple of offices had things fall over. It was pretty scary.
"Some of the ladies were obviously quite ... shattered.''
Several members of Mr Depczynski's work colleagues leapt under their desks, he said.
"I didn't,'' he said through a nervous grin.
After the shaking stopped, Mr Depczynski left the building to meet with his 19-year-old daughter Natalie, who was on nearby Willis St.
"It was so scary, I was all alone,'' Miss Depczynski said.
"Everyone around me was just freaking out.''
Mr Depczynski said he was initially unable to reach his wife who was in Hutt Valley due to poor phone network connections.
"We've spoken to each other [now] and she's fine,'' he said.
She was driving at the time.
"She thought somebody had backed into her,'' Mr Depczynski said.
Seddon Vineyard manager Garrie Armstrong was on his vineyard when the quake struck.
Asked how the earthquake compared to last month's 6.5 magnitude tremor, he said: "A lot more severe. Obviously a lot shallower. It started off quite gentle and built in intensity. It was quite violent.''
Mr Armstrong was not aware of any injuries but said there were reports of considerable damage around Seddon.
"Land slips and stock in supermarkets off the shelves. Broken windows, that sort of thing.''
He was now at the local school waiting for parents to collect their children.
The pupils were "pretty good''.
"They've been through a bit over the last month.''
Federated Farmers Marlborough provincial president Gary Barnett said he was driving just outside of Blenheim when the quake hit.
"It made me stop and think that I had a puncture.''
Plimmerton mother Bria Hayward said she was parked in her car at lights with her young baby when the car started to shake.
"It was pretty intense. The car was bouncing around like mad.''
A footbridge over State Highway 1 was moving with the vibrations.
"I would have been mortified if I was on that.''
Ms Hayward said she felt nervous after last month's 6.5 magnitude quake.
"But I thought 'I'm okay. I've got my baby in the car'.''
Twitter users said they felt the quake as far away as Auckland and Christchurch.
