A strong 5.3 earthquake has rocked the lower North Island, centred 10 kilometres east of Eketāhuna in the Tararua district.

Geonet says it struck at 11.26pm on Tuesday and was 35 kilometres deep.

Within half an hour more than 23,000 people had provided reports of experiencing it to Geonet.

While most were in the central and lower North Island, it was felt as far away as the South Island.

People from Eketāhuna, Masterton and Dannevirke posting on social media described a scary experience.

"Man that was scary as hell," wrote one poster on social media.

"Dogs freaked out and stuff all over my kitchen floor," wrote another.

"I heard the bugger coming, then there was one big jolt which made the entire house shake and creak," a Masterton resident wrote.

"Really strong up Rangitumau, stuff fell in our living room but nothing broken," wrote another from the Masterton area.

Another resident in the town posted on Facebook that items fell in their living room while another person felt the quake in Hāwera.

"Loud earthquake! Heard that coming for what seemed like ages, then it roared! Never heard such a loud one before. Then it lightly rolled for about a minute! Not really jolty," another Facebook user based on the west coast of the North Island reported.

Tararua District mayor Tracey Collis said the quake was widely felt across the region.

"It was very, very long and very, very strong so immediately you knew that it was either centred close or a significant one for New Zealand."

No damage was reported to infrastructure but the emergency management team would be checking again on Wednesday morning, she said.

Main image (GeoNet): A strong earthquake was felt widely across many parts of both islands last night.