A 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of New Zealand's North Island today, just over a week after a damaging earthquake hit the South Island, killing two people.

Monitoring agency GeoNet said today's strong intensity quake was centred 70km south-east of the small township of Porangahau, off the east coast of the North Island at a depth of 30km.

There were no initial reports of damage.

New Zealand has experienced more than 4,000 aftershocks since a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the east coast of the South Island just after midnight on Nov 14, causing widespread damage to roads, bridges and railway lines in the region.

- dpa