DESTRUCTION OF NAPIER

Hawera Star, Volume L, 5 February 1931, Page 4

DESTRUCTION OF NAPIER

awful scenes of DESOLATION “UTTER AND COMPLETE RUIN” HAWEItA EYE-WITNESS’ STORY. *-tl graphic story of the effects of the eartuquake in and around Napier was given to a “,'stur ' reporter by an eyewitness who has just returned from a visit to the stricken zone. Many of the preliminary reports, and some of the statements which have been published in the Press, were held to be exaggerated, while on the other hand lull justice could not be done by any verbal description of some of the appalling destruction observed.

“We left. Hawera at 1 a.m. in the small hours of Wednesday morning,” the “Star” reporter was informed, “and we were traversing the Marine Parade at Napier at 7 a.m.” This in itself was an indication that the road was in fair order and that accounts of the complete subsiding of the highway were fantastic. In many places wide cracks did exist, both transversely and parallel to the length of the road. In some spots a .sudden drop of a foot or more had occurred, and in others the outside edges of the road had cracked away altogether. The approaches to several bridges were rendered difficult by wide fissures, but at no spot was the road impassable to traffic. Careful watch was kept for preliminary signs of damage after leaving i the Manawatu Gorge, but only an occasional broken chimney was observed from Dannevirke to Waipukurau. At Waipawa the first signs of real earthquake damage were observed. Several shops in the main street were completely demolished, and the majority were severely damaged. From Waipawa onwards not a single chimney was observed intact, and, as Napier was approached the signs of upheaval became more and more pronounced. Innumerable open air camps had been pitched, and many houses had been cleared, of furniture and personal effects.

In the vicinity of Hastings damage to houses became more and more extensive. Traffic was diverted by way of Stortford Lodge, and it was, therefore, impossible to form an accurate idea, of the damage within the town, but the demolished state of most of the buildings on the outskirts was an indication of what to expect in the more closely built portions. EFFECTS OF TERRIBLE ORDEAL. Arriving on the Marine Parade at Napier, one could not but be struck by the haggard and. care-worn faces of the people who had spent a night of horror m the open. All along the parade and in every open space tents, cars and temporary shelters had been occupied. There were no signs of panic, but tbe faces of nervous women and crying cmldren were clear evidence that the continuation of shocks throughout the night had. played havoc with nerves already overwrought by their terrible experiences, even without the blazing city as a background to add to l their horror.

It is impossible to exaggerate by any description, the extent of the damage in the central business section of Napier. The whole area has .been completely wiped out. One could stand in, the centre of the main streets, for u example in Emerson or Hastings Streets, and) gaze in every direction right through, the blocks that had once been occupied by splendid buildings. Tlie wreckage of broken masonry, bricks and roofing iron met right across tbe streets from both sides, and were mixed with a tangled mass of wires which had once been the overhead! .tramway, telephone and power lines. Bare remnants of blackened walls, generally not more than about one storey nigli, marked, the positions that had once been occupied by the warehouses, hotels, theatres and banks. The interiors of the one-time buildings were now a ground-level mass, of which blackened and twisted roofing. ,! .. iron was the only recognisable remainder. Motor cars in every street, both. * at the kerb and in the centre had. been overwhelmed, smashed by falling masonry and burnt to bare metal in. the fire. On all sides curling smoke arose from the still smouldering ruins, while, - at the same time, flames were roaring skyward from the Power Board Build- -1 nigs. Not a combustible fragment re- - mains. The destruction is utter and

complete. ■ In the outer business area a few r assets will be recoverable. The flames were confined to the central area by blowing up certain buildings, so that, further out, a few men could be found, picking a precarious way through the ruins of their premises, and. recovering a few articles of value. RESIDENTIAL SECTION. The residential section, of Napier has suffered severely, both from earthquake and fire, but the damage is not of the wholesale and complete character which has toped out the. business section. Wooden houses of one story with iron roofs have withstood the shocks remarkably well. Their chimneys are down, tneir roofs damaged, and their interiors thrown into unutterable confusion, but the buildings themselves, although strained, still stand intact- . riled roofs have naturally been less? resistant to falling chimneys and such • houses have suffered correspondingly. All two-storied dwellings have been either severely damaged if made or wood, or completely demolished if of brick or non-reinforced concrete. Dwellings of re-inforced ooncrete have .cracked badsy and are damaged internally, many beyond repair, but the steel reinforcing has prevented collapse. To this feature the relatives of at least one Hawera resident owe their lives. „ THE NURSES’ HOME. Words cannot convey the picture now presented by the remains of the nurses’ home adjacent to the hospital. This was once a tliree-storied structure of nonreinforced concrete. It is now an indescribable heap of wreckage, less than the height of a single storey, in which masonry, floor (boardings, furniture, stair banisters, wall linings . and broken fragments of every description are mingled together in one shapeless leap. It is impossible to escape the conviction that numerous bodies must lie buried beneath such an awful and complete ruin. Before mid-day the police and the men of the navy h;ul commenced a system of patrols. Marines in groups of four, fully armed, were observed patrolling in the residential area, and statements were current that this was with a view to preventing looting and pilfering which already had commenced in a few instances. The police, rein- . forced by special constables from Wellington, also commenced to picket the . devastated business area and to turn away sightseers. The same system was found in vogue at Hastings on the return journey at midday on Wednesday. By now, thb only visitors to the \ stricken" zone will be official helpers and those definitely arranging trans- • port for relatives or friends.