Wrecked Townships.

Feilding Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 120, 18 November 1901, Page 2

Wrecked Townships.

Wholesale Destruction of Property. Loss Estimated at from £10,000 to £20,000. A Child Killed. People Camping out. Telegraph. Press Association. Copyright Christchurch, November 16. An interview with a gentleman who had come through to Rangiora from^heviot to-day showed that the earthquake at the latter place had 'been most disastrous. There is hardly a house habitable in the township, and the damage is variously estimated at from £10,000 to £ 20,000. Every chimney in the settlement is down, not a single one standing. The first shock was so severe that people were sent to the ground in all directions. A child was killed. It was only two months old, and belonging to Mr Charles Johnson. The family lived in a sod house, with an iron roof, and on the first shock the whole structure collapsed, the child being recovered dead from the ruins. The body of a Dr Williamson, who died a few days previously, was thrown from the coffin, and the house was much damaged. The township looks as though it had been through a bombardment. Penberthy's large boarding-house was completely wrecked. Scott's hotel was so damaged that it will have to be rebuilt. McTaggert's butchers* shop, which was built of brick is simply a heap of ruins. Hubbard, Hall, and Co.'s store was removed completely from its foundations, and hardly a dwellinghouse in the township is habitable. Many of the inhabitants refuse to return to their dwellings, and are camping on the open bluff and beach. Roads are entirely blocked, and the school house at Port Robinson is wrecked. The Telegraph Office suffered very severely, all the instruments being smashed and everything overturned. To illustrate the force of the shock heavy iron plates in the office were overturned. The shock was most severely felt in Mackenzie and Spottiswood. At Domett houses were shaken and chimneys thrown down. When the last information came from Cheviot at 3 p.m. the shocks were still continuing. At Waiau and Tepapa the shaking was felt severely. At Waikari a lot of damage was done. The heaviest losers are Me* Dowell (storekeeper), Kerinode (hotelkeeper), McNaught (saddler), White and Co. (storekeepers), and Lorner (hotelkeepen. The vicarage of the Church of England is almost in ruins. There is hardly a chimney left standing in the place. Several women fainted. Nelson, November 16. A prolonged shock of earthquake was experienced here at 7.45 this morning, lasting over half a minute, the direction being north to south. The buildings rocked and groaned, the church clock stopped at the exact minute, and doors, crockery, pictures, etc., swayed for several seconds after the shock ceased. Several people were quite scared. Some rushed out of the houses in alarm. Happily, though one of the longest shocks ever felt here, the motion was not severe, and no damage is as yet reported.