A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.1 has struck off the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, which sparked a tsunami warning.

The quake hit at 4.37am NZ time, around167 kilometres from the nearest main town, Gisborne, at a depth of 40km off the coast.

Residents have begun evacuating low–lying areas near Gisborne, after being told to go to higher ground or as far inland as possible.

New Zealand’s Civil Defence said it did not expect land to be inundated but warned: “Tsunami activity will continue for several hours and the threat must be regarded as real until this warning is cancelled.”

There is a tsunami threat is to areas marked in green on the map. No threat to other parts of NZ. #EQNZ pic.twitter.com/TljGLBJXvu

— National Emergency Management Agency (@NZcivildefence) September 1, 2016

The tsunami warning was later cancelled for the East Coast of the North Island and upper South Island.

MCDEM have cancelled the tsunami warning in place for the North Coast Regions of the North Island of New Zealand. #EQNZ

— National Emergency Management Agency (@NZcivildefence) September 1, 2016

There were no immediate reports of injury or damage but New Zealanders from throughout the North Island reported being woken by the shaking.

https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/771392237418655745

The jolt lasted for almost a minute and was followed by several moderate-sized aftershocks, including a magnitude 5.6 jolt at 5.01am.

New Zealand is on the boundary of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, which form part of the so-called “Ring of Fire”, and experiences up to 15,000 tremors a year.