WELLINGTON (REUTERS) - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 struck central New Zealand on Tuesday (Nov 22), little more than a week after a powerful tremor centred in the upper South Island rocked the country and killed two people.

Tuesday's quake was centred off the coast of the North Island, 138km from Palmerston North at a depth of 37km.

Thousands of aftershocks have been registered since a 7.8 magnitude quake struck near Christchurch in the early hours of Nov 14.