Kiwi group caught on fourth floor of Bali nightclub as 'major' quake hit

A group of Kiwis were stuck on the fourth floor of a nightclub in Bali as last night's 6.9 earthquake hit, leading them to fear the worst.

Photographer Peter Graney told the Rotorua Daily Post that he and five other Kiwis were celebrating a birthday when the shaking started.

"At first we were unsure what was going on as the building slowly swayed," he told the Post.

"Then the intensity rapidly increased and we realised we were in a major earthquake situation.

"People started crying around us and running for the exits.

"We quickly decided the exits were narrow and joining the stampede towards the stairs was unwise.

"The extreme shaking went on for about a minute and at that stage it was obvious that being four storeys up with restricted exits was problematic."

They decided that the building seemed to have survived the earthquake well enough, but a strong aftershock a few minutes later made them reconsider that.

"About 15 minutes later a second earthquake hit ... less intense but frightening," Mr Graney said.

"We decided to try for the exit .. the staff member near the exit yelled to get out before another panic rush."

They managed to get outside to the street where numerous hotels had evacuated their guests, and they decided to head back to their own.

"The taxi we grabbed wanted double the normal fare which we gladly paid ... when we exited our taxi tourists were walking around in shock - many talking about their hotel having cracks and unsure if they could return to sleep."

Mr Graney said he plans to leave Bali as soon as possible.