UPDATED 10.01AM: The threat from a magnitude 7 earthquake in Vanuatu this morning has now passed.

There was a tsunami scare following the quake for those countries within a 300 kilometre radius of the island nation.

Civil Defence says there is no tsunami threat for New Zealand.

A supermarket in Luganville has reported some damage with products falling off the shelves and breaking on the floor, and there were power cuts for a short time. 

Former Christchurch resident Rachel Ward, who's in Port Vila, said she felt a rocking motion while in bed.

"You wonder whether you're dreaming, whether it is an earthquake or not," she said. "I looked out and saw the pool splashing about which confirmed that it was an earthquake."

Ward says it didn't feel as violent as shakes she felt in Christchurch, but she was further away from the epicentre.

A Vanuatu resident described the quake as a short, violent shake at daybreak.