Wanganui ’quakes

Press, 15 October 1982, Page 1

Wanganui ’quakes

PA Wellington Wanganui had its sharpest earthquake of the day early last evening, as a jolt of 5.3 on the Richter scale sent crockery tumbling in some parts of the city. The ’quake, the fifth significant one of the day, came after two similar jolts on Wednesday and up to 50 smaller tremors, said the Seismological Institute last evening. Earlier yesterday, a 4.9 magnitude jolt cut power to a quarter of Wanganui for 17 minutes, when a safety mechanism tripped in a transformer to shut it off. The superintendent of the observatory in Wellington, Dr Warwick Smith, said that such earthquake swarms

were not unusual. “They are usually, quite shallow, about 10 to 15 kilometres deep. The last major swarm like this was at Wairoa in 1956,” he said. Dr Smith said the present series of tremors round Wanganui, measuring 4.25 to 5.3, were the strongest in the area for about 15 years. Mr Jim Wallace, deputy headmaster at Wanganui Collegiate school, where Prince Edward is a house tutor, said earlier yesterday that the Prince had not been at the school when the morning tremors took place. He was tramping with pupils at Mount Egmont. The police said there was no major damage caused in Wanganui by the tremors.