EARLY MORNING TREMORS

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 May 1931, Page 7

EARLY MORNING TREMORS

FELT IN POVERTY BAY

LITTLE DAMAGE REPORTED [PEB PBESS ASSOCIATION.] GISBORNE, May 7. A severe earthquake was experienced at Gisborne at 2.28 this morning, causing considerable alarm, but except for a parapet which crashed through a verandah of several business premises in Peel Street, and the fracture of a number of shop windows, the structural damage was not very great. No one was injured. The residents of hotels and boardinghouses pdured into the streets, which with residents hurriedly arriving in cars, to inspect their premises, soon became full of people.'

Bartleet’s camp at the Wharatahi Hills, 20 miles south of Gisborne, reported 32 shocks between 2.30 and 7.30. LATER. A survey of the ’quake damage shows that the parapet of Hall’s Build' ings, Peel Street, crashed over the front four shops, bringing down the verandah and burying the footpath in a mass of masonry, and shattering the windows. Pediments on a number of buildings lin Gladstone Road were broken, and in one case a heavy pediment, precariosuly balanced on two side parapets, fell on to the roof of one shop, smashing in the roof of a fish shop adjoining. The stocks and fittings were damaged in a number of shops, but none to a great extent. Country reports show that the disturbances were more severe to the south and south-west. Te Karaka, 20 miles north, felt nothing, and in the northern coastal areas the shock was not severe. Nuhaka and Wharenata experienced seventeen tremors in the first half hour.

Tiniroto, 35 miles south west, reports that the shocks were severe till 6 o’clock, and then eased off, but are still continuing mildly every quarter of an hour. Chimneys are down and tanks burst. The crockery and general store interior is in a mess. Waerenga Ahiika, near Gisborne, reports that, whilst chimneys are down and crockery broken, the shock was not exceptionally severe. At the Gisborne Hospital the patients took the shake very calmly, and there was no panic at all. The nurses reported immediately for duty. There was no structural damage. A further Tirinoto report states that residents in the township spent the night under the hotel verandah. They declare that the shake was as severe as any previously felt. All the chimneys are down, some having been rebuilt several times since the February ’quake. All the crockery was broken, and everything on the shelves in the hotel bar was thrown down. AT WAIROA. "~WAIROA, May 7. An alarmingly severe earthquake was experienced throughout the district at two-thirty 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. Many people rushed outside in night attire. The shock was of the heavy rocking type. HASTINGS EXPERIENCE. HASTINGS, May 7. Seven earthquakes, all of considerable intensity, were felt here during the 24 hours from six o’clock yesterday morning. The most intense was felt at 5.8 o’clock yesterday afternoon. It lasted one minute, and according to the seismograph ip possession of Mr Henry de Denne, went the full width of the chart, but did not throw the needle off. It had a heavy rolling motion. A more frightening quake occurred at 2.27 this morning, and the seismograph shows that it lasted a full five minutes. Seismographically, it was not so intense as yesterday’s shock, but the long duration and the hour of 'the happening made it more alarming. No damage is reported, but the conitinuance of quakes is naturally 9aus,/ing uneasiness. RECORDED AT KELBURN. WELLINGTON, May 7. , The instruments at Kelburn Observatory show that this morning’s quake ■ was obviously one of considerable amplitude, the oscillations continuing for more than an hour. Preliminary calculations point to the centre of the origin, as being off the coast, about six degrees from Wellington, northeast of the centre of the February shake. . ~ A further shake of lesser intensity, 'was recorded at 5.23 a.m., is calculated at 127 miles from Wellington, probably in the Murchison area.