As a geologist, let me clarify this if anyone is interested.
The richter scale is a base 10 log scale, which means (say) a 5.4 quake is twice as strong as a 5.3 quake. Or a 6.0 is 100 times stronger than a 4.0 quake.
The one in NZ was a 7.1 whereas they are saying the one last night was only 5.4. That would make the one in NZ much much stronger than the one here. Of course, proximity to the epicentre (the land directly above the quake) will determine how badly the damage will be.
Normally you don't get earthquakes in continental areas, and if you do they are usually small. Anywhere on a plate margin, such as Japan, Indonesia, NZ, Turkey, etc is much more prone to this kind of thing because the plates are pushing against each other and eventually something has to give.
If anyone's spent time living in places like PNG or Japan or NZ they will have probably felt earth tremors all the time. It's kind of exciting as long as it's not too big!