CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE

Evening Star, Issue 18159, 27 December 1922, Page 4

CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE

SOME .DETAILS OF DAMAGE, [Pee United Press Association.] CHRISTCHURCH, December 26. It is not until Waipara is passed that tho really bad effects of the earthquake are noticeaole. Between Waipara and Omihi there'ls hardly a farmhouse on which every chimney is not down. The roof of the beautiful Glenmark Church is badly damaged in some places by pieces of falling masonry, a large area of the tiles having been knocked loose. Various crosses on tho church have also been thrown down. The severity of the earthquake at Cheviot can be gauged by the fact that the heavy safe in the Post Office was twisted round by the force of the shake. A cupboard in tho office containing batteries was thrown open, and the batteries thrown out, while in tho postmaster’s house heavy articles of furniture fell lo tho floor. TELEGRAPH WIRES REPAIRED. CHRISTCHURCH, December 26. Most of the telegraph lines on tho East Coast that went down during tho earthquake have been repaired, and messages are being sent through as usual, although there are two faults between Amberley and Waikari. SYDNEY RECORD. SYDNEY, December 26. The _ first tremor of the New Zealand earthquake was recorded at the Sydney Observatory at 37 minutes past one on Christmas Day, and tho principal wave five minutes later. AN HARMONIC SERIES. MORE TO BE EXPECTED. “In connection with tho earthquake, it ia interesting to note,” stated Sir Skey, director of the Magnetic Observatory, Christchurch, “ that it is evidently of an harmonic series. In tho Christchurch records of earthquakes in North Canterbury in November, 1921, this is distinctly evident. In that series there’ were two pairs of consecutive shocks separated by intervals of almost exactly fifty-three and a-balf minutes, and the whole series was evi•dently compounded of sub-harmonics of periods of thirteen seconds, seventeen seconds, and probably twenty-one seconds, coupled with the harmonics of the day. It may not be generally known that only just recently Professor Turner, secretary of the Seismological Committee of the British Association, announced that in the world records of earthquakes for the past four years, which had been discussed by him, if appeared that a very definite twenty-one-minuto period existed. Ho had stated that there could bo no ‘possible doubt that our earth is in a state of continuous vibration, probably of tho nature of a pulsation, which could be maintained by variations of tidal forces acting on the solid earth. The twenty-one-minute period,” stated Mi’ Skey, “is very approximately the observed time in which an earthquake wave can traverse one diameter of the earth. I consider that further shocks are extremely probable, but the time of their taking place is as yet indeterminable. ’lt will be remembered that euch shocks were observed after tho great quakes of November, 1901, and November, 1921.”-