The largest was a magnitude 4.9 earthquake which struck at 8.12am at a depth of 5km and was centred 20km east of Rotorua.
A magnitude 4.5 quake struck about 20km east of Rotorua at 7.57am, according to GeoNet.
It was about 4km deep.
Four minutes later a 3.7km quake struck 15km north-east of the city and had a depth of 21km.
It was followed a minute later by a 3.5 quake at a depth of 4km and was centred 20km east of Rororua.
There have been several other quakes between 3.3 and 3.8 that are part of what GeoNet is calling a swarm.
GeoNet described the 4.9 shake as a moderate one while the rest have been labelled weak.
"This looks like a swarm - we often see these in this area (the Okataina volcanic centre), and there were small foreshocks yesterday," GeoNet said on Twitter.
"The last swarm with quakes of this size was in Rotoehu in July 2004."