A shallow magnitude 4.9 earthquake has rocked Christchurch early this morning.
The quake struck at 3.29am, and was centred 10km east of Lyttelton, off the end of Godley Head, at a depth of 6km.
Since the September 4, there have been at least 8,300 earthquakes in the Canterbury region, with more than 300 larger than magnitude 4.
NZ Herald this morning.