New Zealand Earthquake: 6.1-Magnitude Quake Shakes Up Country

A strong 6.1 magnitude earthquake rattled central New Zealand on Tuesday, the United States Geological Survey said. The quake struck at a depth of 193 km (119 miles) and about 35 km (21 miles) south-west of the town of Taumarunui.

Local media reported that around 9,000 people felt the tremors within 10 minutes of its striking at 3.14 p.m. local time Tuesday (10.14 p.m. EDT Monday).

The country's Ministry of Civil Defence confirmed there is no tsunami threat due to the quake. Emergency department too confirmed there were no reports of damage or causality.

New Zealand's parliament was suspended until further notice following the quake. The call for suspension was made by Deputy Speaker Anne Tolley who was chairing a session on government bill in the parliament.

"I never thought I'd have to do that, suspend the House until we find out what's happened. There were public in the galleries and people need to just make sure their staff are okay. We're in the safest building probably in the country - but just to make sure and get some advice,” she said, Radio NZ reported.

The tremors were felt as far as South Island. Stephanie Ham, whose car was parked outside Marlborough Boys' College in Blenheim when the quake struck, said, "The car was rolling around and I thought my son had come up and shaken the car. All the boys were walking around and none of them felt it but the people parked in front of us got out and were quite scared and were looking up at the power lines."

"We haven't had anything as strong as a 6 [magnitude] for a while," Ham added, Stuff reported.