EARTHQUAKE IN HAWKE'S BAY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19853, 14 February 1930, Page 8

EARTHQUAKE IN HAWKE'S BAY.

VERY SEVERE SHOCK. SURVEY OF DAMAGE. SOME STARTLING EXPERIENCES. v <«PBCIJX TO TM PRESS.) NAPIER, February 13. Confirmation of yesterday's reports of tho earthquake damage at Porangahau was obtained by the "Herald's" correspondent in the district to-day. Though the sum total of the loss throughout the district probably would not make a very sensational figure, there is the fact that almost every dwelling and all business premises in the township suffered some financial loss. The settlement is so small that everything in it was affected. The damage was not restricted to chimneys. Much loss in the destruction of stock and damage to water tanks must be added to the cost of replacing chirnneys. Five chimneys at Tncklebanlc's Duke of Edinburgh Hotel were felled and easily £IOO worth of stock was destroyed. Two chimneys were felled at tho Porangahau Trading Company's shop and about £l5O worth of stock lost. The town's water supply is cut off. Eighty per cent, of the telephones on the local exchange were out of order to-day, and the school, all the chimneys of which were destroyed, has had to be closed indefinitely. A child named Atkinson was slightly injured by a falling brick, but that is the only ease of personal injury reported. The destructive effects of the earthquake extended far beyond Porangahau township, Chimneys out on the coast at Cook's Tooth, and thereabouts, were brought down. Streams, which on Tuesday were flowing .gaily, have now disappeared. Minor landslides have occurred, and many fissures have opened. There is a Assure a chain long in one of the streets of Porangahau, and one near the reservoir at Oakburn station (Canning's) on the Wanstead side of Porangahau. Fourteen chimneys on various buildings were completely destroyed. Many residents of the affected district left their homes on Wednesday night, and went into Waipukurau, and most of those remaining slept in the .open. The earthquake Beems to have begun either on the coast near Cook's Tooth, ur else out at sea, and to have travelled along the course of the Porangahau river, roughly in a north-west direction. It behaved in a most freakish and violent manner, and the shock, which at about 6.52 p.nf. was the climax of a series felt during the day (or, as some residents say, during the past week), had some extraordinary characteristics. An unusual after-effect was noticed by Mr Delaney at six a.m. to-day. While looking down at the river he saw that the water was violently, frothing and bubbling. To him it seamed also that the level of the riverbed had dropped about Bft, or else that a long extending slip had fallen from the river-bank. Certainly, there was a great fracture in the ground. In Mr Pelaney'B store goods were thrown from the shelves on all sides towards the middle. It seemed as though the earthquake had performed a motion that may be likened to the drawing out and compressing of a concertina. The proprietor and his family had a fearful experience. Feeling that a very violent tremor was coming, Mr Delanev hastened from his office to go to the aid of his family and staff, but found thnt the door had jammed. After some dreadful moments he was able to open it, but then found it impossible to keep on his feet. He was hurled against a wall and lifted up and down in a sickening way, and again was held bv a jammed door. At Inst he reached his family, and they all got out unhurt. Four twelve-gallon drums, of <il on a stand in the oil shed were thrown 12ft into tho street, and five other drums each weighing 450 pounds were slid several feet along the floor. Wiremen, bricklayers, Public Works, and other officials arrived in the township this morriiftg. and were biisy making a survey of the damage. At the residence of Mr Walter Burns a piano was hurled through the wall of the house. At Mr Hooton's a table grand piano was thrown up and down with such force as to have its legs smashed, and it fell to the floor. At another house, a chimney falling through the roof narrowly missed the members of the family, who. escaped from- the house by climbing over the piled up bricks. Strangely enough, the store of Mr G. M. Sargisson, only 100 yds from Delanev's, nfld opposite the hotel which was 1 so extensively affected, suffered almost no damage opart from the loss of chimneys. A tank at the hotel was thrown up and down with such force that the corrugations at its base were caused to run together and overlap one another. In the hotel itself the chaotic influence of the shnfce wns stronglv in evidence. The crashing chimneys broke open a nortion of the roof. Furniture, pictures, and liouor stocks were thrown nbout in wild confusion. The ooeiinnnts nt the time Fiade an difficult escape to the street without mishap.

SEISMOGRAPH RECORDS.

CENTRE PROBABLY ON COAST. [THE PEES 3 Special Senrtea.J WELLINGTON, February 13. The following report on the earthquake was issued by the Minister for Scientific and Industrial Research (Hon. H. Atrnore): — "Good records have been obtained from all the seismographs at the Do* minion Observatory. The P wave arrived at 61irs 22min New Zealand summer time. Afterwards, shocks of decreasing intensity were recorded at 6.29 p.m., 6.40 p.m., and 6.56 p.m., on February 12th, and at 1.52 a.m. on February 13th. After the arrival of the P wave the motion of the seismograph was so violent that the arrival of the 8 wave was completely obliterated, and consequently the exact distance of the origin cannot be determined. The records, however, indicate that the origin was probably on or near the coast in the locality of Porangahau. The official reports have not yet come to hand, but newspaper reports indicate that the disturbance reached a Rossi Forel intensitv of 8 011 tsle coast at Porangahau, and was felt strongly in the Southern Hawke's Bav and "Wairarapa districts. In Wellington the shock did not exceed E F 4."

RECORDED IN CHRISTCHURCH.

EXTENSIVE MOVEMENT INDICATED. A good record of the earthquake was obtained by the seismograph at. the Christchurch Magnetic Observatory. The longitudinal wave was recorded here at 6.22.7 p.m. summer time, and the transverse wave at 6.23.4, the maximum movement here occurring at 6.25.7. The "L" waves were large for four minutes after their first arrival, and irregular waves continued to come in for some time after. The fact that the small waves did not subside until nearly 2$ hours after the first indicates that the movement was extensive. It was estimated that the centre of action was about 220 miles from Christchurch.