AUCKLAND: New Zealanders were jolted awake by a 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the North Island Friday, triggering a brief tsunami warning but no reports of damage or injuries.

The quake hit 180 kilometres (111 miles) northeast of the city of Gisborne at 2:27 am (1327 Thursday GMT), at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometres, US Geological Survey said.

It was widely felt across the North Island, with more than 50,000 people lodging online notifications with the local Geonet monitoring service. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially issued an alert for areas of New Zealand’s North Island, but later said the threat had passed.—AFP