Thousands of residents have reported feeling an early morning shake in Christchurch.

The 3.7 quake struck at 12.36AM and was centred 5 kilometres east of the city at a depth of 11 kilometres.

Nearly 8 thousand people reported feeling the quake on the Geonet website.

Residents in Reefton also received an early morning wake up call after a 4.2 magnitude quake struck the town at 6.32AM.

It was centred within 5 kilometres of the town at a shallow depth of 5 kilometres.