The 7.5 magnitude earthquake which struck near Culverden early on Monday was a significant jolt, but where did it put its mark in the history books?
In terms of magnitude, Monday's quake is far larger than the 6.3 Canterbury earthquake in February 2011 which killed 185 people, but is by no means the biggest our shaky isles have experienced.
But while the Canterbury earthquake was of a smaller magnitude, the peak ground acceleration was much higher at 2.2g compared to the 1.2g recorded in Ward - GNS' closest instrument to the epicentre.
Peak ground acceleration is a measure of how hard the earth shakes at a given point and is a better indication of possible damage than just magnitude alone.
According to GeoNet, the biggest quake on record was way back on January 23, 1855 when an 8.2 to 8.3 shake hit near Wairarapa.
Fastforward to Hawke's Bay on February 3, 1931, when a 7.8 magnitude quake caused the largest loss of life and most extensive damage of any tremor in New Zealand's recorded history.
It would take 78 years for New Zealand to feel an earthquake of the same size - this time in Dusky Sound on July 15, 2009. It would be the biggest since the Buller and Hawke's Bay quakes in 1929 and 1931 respectively.
The 7.8 Buller earthquake on June 17, 1929 was reported to have been heard as far away as New Plymouth.
On March 5, 1934, Pahiatua was the epicentre of a 7.6 magnitude quake felt across the lower North Island and was also reported to have been felt as in Auckland and Dunedin.
This is where Monday's earthquake enters the history books - the 7.5 magnitude shake 15km northeast of Culverden in the South Island is already on record for killing two people, causing extensive damage to roads and infrastructure and was followed by numerous aftershocks, minutes - sometimes seconds apart.
Marlborough was the home of the next quake on the list, with a quake between 7.4 and 7.7 on October 16, 1848 which thankfully was the largest felt in the region that year.
A 7.2 in Wairarapa on June 24, 1942 caused extensive damage to buildings and was felt widely in the lower North Island.
The 7.2 to 7.6 Cape Farewell quake of October 19, 1868 caused damage to houses and roads in the Farewell Spit area.
In more recent memory, the May 24, 1968 quake in Inangahua caused widespread damage and was felt across the New Zealand.
Damage from the Inangahua earthquake (Archives New Zealand)
On September 4, 2010, in Darfield, a 7.1 quake caused severe damage in mid-Canterbury and Christchurch, and also revealed a previously unknown east-west fault under the Canterbury Plains.
Colombo St, Sydenham, from the September 2010 quake (Gabriel Pollard / Flikr)
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