ANOTHER BIG SHAKE

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 189, 8 May 1931, Page 10

ANOTHER BIG SHAKE

Damage at Gisborne

ALARMED RESIDENTS Havoc in Business Area COUNTRY TOWNS SUFFER “ » By Telegraph—Press Association. Gisborne, May 7. A severe earthquake experienced at Gisborne at 2.28 this morning caused considerable alarm, but except for a parapet which crashed through the veranda of business premises in Peel Street, and the fracture of a number of shop windows the structural damage is not very great. No one was in-< jured.

Residents and guests at hotels and boarding-houses poured into the ets, which, with business people hurriedly arriving in cars to inspect their premises, soon became full of people. At the Gisborne Hospital the patients took the shake very calmly. There was no panic, and all the nurses reported immediately for duty. There was no structural damage. A survey of the damage shows that the parapet of Hall’s buildings in Peel Street crashed over the front of four shops, bringing down the veranda, burying the footpath in a mass of masonry, and shattering the windows. The pediments of a number of buildings in Gladstone Road were broken. In one case a heavy pediment precariously balanced on two side parapets, fell on to a roof, one smashing in the roof of an adjoining , fish shop, The stocks and fittings were damaged in a number of shops, but not to a great extent. Country reports show that the disturbance was-more severe toward the south and south-west. Te Karaka, twenty miles to the north, felt nothing and in the northern coastal areas the shock was not severe. Nuhaka and Wharerata experienced seventeen tremors in the first half hour. Tinlroto, 35 miles to the south-west of Gisborne, reports that the shocks were severe until six o’clock, when they eased off, but they are still continuing mildly every quarter of an hour. Chimneys there are down and tanks burst. The residents in the township spent the remainder of the night under a hotel veranda. They declare that the shakes were as severe as any previously felt. All the chimneys are down, some having been reb u ll t several times since the February All the crockery was broken, and eve y thing on the shelves in the hotel bar was thrown down. ? tremors continue Sharp Shock in Afternoon By Telegraph—Press Association. Gisborne, May 7. Several minor earth tremors this afterreported. MANY SHARP TREMORS Hastings and Napier Affected Dominion Spiuiai -ikhvile Hastings, May 7. Seven earthquakes, all of considerab e intensity, were felt here during the twenty-four hours £rom . 6 - yeS vtfetThe most intense was at u.B p.m. It last for one minute, and it was retarded on a seismograph in I>s s^ s “?£. o£ , Henry de Denne to the full width of th chart; but did not. throw the needle off. It had a heavy rolling motion. A more frightening earthquake occurred at 2.27 this morning, and the seismograph shows that it lasted for a full five minutes. Seismographically it was not so intense as yesterday s out it was of long duration, and the hour of happening made it more alarming. Napier also has experienced a senes of sharp tremors, and the big shake this morning caused a return of No damage is reported, but the continu ance of the earthquakes is naturally causing uneasiness. WAIROA ROCKED Many Breakages in Houses By Telegraph—Press Association. Wairoa, May 7. An alarmingly severe earthquake was experienced throughout the district a 230 this morning, followed by numerous tremors for hours afterwards. Practically no damage is reported to business premises and residences, but there were many breakages indoors. Jinny people rushed outside in their night The shock was of a heavy rocking type. RUMBLING NOISES - Quake Felt at Opotiki Messages received by the secretary of the G.P.O. state that the earthquake as felt at Gisborne was preceded by rumbling noises from the south, arid that it had. a sharp upward thrust. Numerous windows in business premises were thrown out. The electric light failed. Inquiries indicate that the centre of the inland disturbance was in the vicinity of Wharerata hills. Opotiki reports that the earthquake was severe, but there was no dam-rio-e Examination of the Chief Post Office building by the Public Works Department reveals one single chimney thrown out of plumb, and not considered safe. The Chief Postmaster at Napier reports similarly to the Hastings message, but so far no damage is reported. TRACING THE ORIGIN Sea Probable Centre The shake was not felt generally in Wellington, although it was obviously of considerable amplitude, as the oscillation recorded at the Dominion Observatory continued for over an hour, starting at 2 The seismograph records point to the centre of origin being off the coast, about si- degrees from Wellington, indicating a migration northward and eastward of the centre of disturbance responsible for the major Hawke’s Bay earthquake of 1-eb-rtmry last. The calculations are prelimin■irTherey wns a further shock, but one of much less intensity, recorded at 0.~0 a.m. yesterday. This Is calculated to have been 12" miles distant from Wellington, and probably had its origin in the South Island area, which has been unstable since the Murchison earthquake.