SHARP EARTHQUAKE SHOCKS

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14572, 16 January 1948, Page 3

SHARP EARTHQUAKE SHOCKS

DAMAGE IN WANGANUI DISTRICT

SHAKES FELT IN OTHER TOWNS

(P.A.) Auckland, today. A sharp earthquake was felt in many parts of the North Island and the northern part of the South Island about 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon. There were no casualties. Damage, which was only of a minor nature, was practically confined to the Wanganui district, which experienced the strongest shake at 5.2 p.m. This was the time at which it was felt in Wellington and at which Aucklanders reported they noticed a slight tremor. The earthquake was also felt at Gisborne, Napier, Taupo, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Marton, Taihape, Levin, Farewell Spit, Nelscn and parts of Marlborough. Preceded by a rumble and -a slight earth movement, the earthquake at Wanganui developed suddenly into a jolt of unusual severity. Three large plate-glass windows were smashed, several were cracked, and bottle sand glassware were shattered when they fell from shelves. Half a gross of fly spray bottles, balanced precariously on top of one another for display purposes in a chemist's window, rocked in harmony with the earthquake, but did not fall. In Wanganui East a large number of chemists' bottles fell and were broken.