Thousands of people are being evacuated from New Zealand's capital and the eastern coast of its South Island after the country was rocked by a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
The quake created a tsunami which struck the northeastern coast of the South Island, and has led to the evacuation of thousands of people from the area.
The scale of the damage and the extent of injuries is unclear, but there are reports of significant damage to some buildings in Wellington.
"I hope everyone is safe after the earthquake tonight. The civil defence is looking into the impact of the quake. Follow them to stay updated," Jon Key, the country's prime minister, wrote on Twitter minutes after the tremor took place.
Terrified New Zealanders have already begun posting photographs of their homes in the aftermath of the quake.
A spokesman for New Zealand's ministry of civil defence has issued a tsunami warning and urged those living near the southern and eastern coasts of the South Island to get to high ground as soon as possible.
Several tsunami are expected to strike the coastline within the next few hours, with seismologists predicting a tidal surge of up to three feet.
Tamsin Edensor, a mother of two in Christchurch, said the shaking lasted a "long" time.
"We were asleep and woken to the house shaking, it kept going and going and felt like it was going to build up," she told AFP.
New Zealand sits on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes are common. An earthquake in 2011 in Christchurch killed 185 people.
The country's 111 emergency service were initially knocked out by the quake, New Zealand police said, but were restored shortly after.
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