DAMAGE IN HUTT VALLEY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 139, 17 June 1929, Page 10

DAMAGE IN HUTT VALLEY

SE VEJKAL BUILDINGS STEAMED The shake caused an' exodus from houses, shops, and factories at Petone, and in the main-street stopped the traf•ac/^- Stacks- of wood fell in Odlin's timber/yard, and. articles jn' many-shop windows were displaced, and cars-park^ ed on. the street shifted. The clock on the Municipal Buildings stopped. ' More damage'was occasioned at Lower Hutt, particularly along Main street, where the foundations of the buildings a. re.upoa swampy ground. On the ealt side of Mam street, near the old bridge' a one-story building is out of alignment with the adjoining building to the extent of about four inches, and further up the street two two-story brick build-' ings have parted companyat the top to the extent of about an inch. The spire of the Eomah Catholic Church was turned round so that the iron cross which faced east now faces north-east, .aye-witnesses state that the spire rocked so. badly that they fully expected it to fall. The spire of .the Anglican Uvurch (St. James) also appears to be out of plumb. A few chimneys also in Main street were cracked, and in two instances partly demolished. One of the most spectacular sights, according to an eye-witness,, was the swaying of the high superstructure of the old bridge which swayed fully, two feet each way from the perpendicular, and.creaked and strained in an alarming manner, the superstructure being covered with sheets of iron. A high chimney on the property of the Now Zealand'Sawmillcrs' association, cracked in a previous earthquake, had the opening widened and lengthened. Several shop windows suffered minor damage through the breaking of small panes of glass.. The attitude of the public varied veiy considerably, some taking the matter in a phlegmatic manner; while others went into hysterics. Several women fainted and an old lady of 70, realising her impotence in the face of the calamity, fell upon her knees on the footpath imploring Divine aid. " •'.':. ■ I The bell on the-Lower Hutt clock tower struck.2B times. "-. . A series of apparent explosions was distinctly heard in the"Hutt Valley, the sound coining seemingly from out at sea in a south-westerly direction.