An earthquake has rattled many households across the North Island tonight.

A 5.4 magnitude quake struck 20km southeast of Tokoroa, shortly after 6pm. It occurred at a depth of 159km.

GeoNet initially recorded the quake as 4.6M and described the shaking as 'weak,” however minutes later upgraded the magnitude to 5.8. The quake was later revised to have a magnitude of 5.4 with 'light” shaking.

As at 6.30pm, more than 9200 people had reported feeling the shaking.

A deep M5.4 earthquake caused a light shake across the North Island. We received 9000+ felt reports. Deep quakes are widely felt, but not close to the epicentre. This quake is due to plate subduction under the N.Island and is not related to Taupō volcano.https://t.co/tvOyZtsMR5 pic.twitter.com/mFhg3JLnYf

— GeoNet (@geonet) December 2, 2022

On Twitter, people from the Palmerston North area, Wellington and even Nelson said they felt the shaking.

In a tweet, GeoNet said the quake was due to plate subduction under the North Island and was not related to Taupō volcano.

Friday's earthquake comes after a magnitude 5.6 quake occurred near Taupō just before midnight Wednesday. CCTV video captured the moment that quake hit, and subsequent aftershocks have also been felt since about the Taupō area.

- Stuff.