UPDATED 5:45am — A severe 7.1 earthquake has hit near East Cape. It took a full hour but New Zealand Civil Defence (MCDEM) finally issued a Tsunami Threat for all of coastal New Zealand – but fell short of issuing an actual warning.  

A small wave has been detected by GeoNet buoys – but nothing significant.

Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence says an evacuation order is in force for East Cape.

The earthquake woke North Islanders this morning around 4:35am, including those in Auckland and northwards which is incredibly rare, almost unheard of.

The quake was so strong it was felt in Wellington too – and some reports were trickly in from the South Island as we wrote this.

The earthquake has been described as long lasting and rolling and was centred just off East Cape out at sea in the Pacific Ocean at 55kms deep.

WeatherWatch.co.nz has publicly said we are concerned at Civil Defence’s very slow public response this morning.

SCREENSHOT taken earlier  from GeoNet:

– WEATHERWATCH.CO.NZ