PATH OF RUIN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21743, 7 March 1934, Page 10

PATH OF RUIN

EARTHQUAKE'S TOLL PAHIATUA STRICKEN MANY SHOPS WRECKED NIGHT OE TEBBOB APPEAL FOB STATE AID / IFBT TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] PAHIATUA. Tuesday Ruined by the most violent and disastrous earthquake ever experienced in Pahiatua district, nearly 20 business premises in Pahiatua were unable to open their doors for trading this morning.

Shortly before midnight, with the most appalling suddenness, the fearful earthquake, which was felt with varying intensity throughout tho North Island, had the whole of tho Pahiatua district in a remorseless grip. It lasted for nearly two minutes, and its intensity could scarcely have been much less than that of the Napier earthquake of 1931.

Only tho absence of more pretentious and fewer brick buildings prevented destruction of a more wholesale nature. As, it is, the damage to shops and private homes was enormous, and it will be a very long time before th;> town regains its normal and attractive appearance. Emergency Radio Link for the southern half of the toirn, and one or two country areas, tho whole district was plunged into darkness by the disruption of the elec-tric-power lines. Theso and the telephono lines arc partly down along each side of the main street, many telephone subscribers thereby being disconnected. All communication by wire north of Pahiatua has been impossible from the beginning, and only with the greatest difficulty is outs.ide news gleaned. This is being done through the post office wiiih Morse, by way of a Wairarapa short-wave radio- set operated by a local amateur, Mr. L. Angelini.

The main street this morning presented a, desolate scene, with so many buildings in complete ruin. Drooping verandahs, bricks, mortar and plateglass were strewn over a wide radius of pavement and street. Had the shake occurred during business hours the loss of life would have been grave indeed. Volunteer Pickets ]Sfo preliminary rumble or warning tremble preceded the horrifying events. Driving rain fell during the shake, and for a full hour afterwards. Buildings swayed, creaked and rocked deliriously. It was fortunate there was no outbreak of fire, as the reservoir is nearly empty. A frequent complaint of farmers to the telephone exchange operator is summed up in one man's query: "I've got 80 cows to milk. When is the power coming on?"

A few minutes after midnight the fWbell clanged violently. The alarm was to summon all brigadesmcn and volunteers for picket duty before the ruined j>remises. . Under Constable Prussing and Superintendent Lawry, rope barricades were erected across certain parts of town, as brick frontages had crashed in places far out into the street, maiking the roadway in the darkness dangerous for traffic.

" A Nightmare Experience " The right-of-way was blocked from the Club Hotel corner to O'Brien Brothers' corner, and from Hannah's Corner to Oxley's Buildings. Pickets ■were placed outside most of the damaged shops, and by the debris, which was right across the street from tho .fallen front of the Power Board office buildings. One or two shopkeepers, with assistance, removed as much as possible of their most perishable goods, which were exposed to the rain, into neighbouring- shops. Mr. Horace Lowe, nightwatchman, had a nightmare experience. "I was trying the door of the theatre at the tirae," he said. "The earthquake came wi'ih a bang. I turned to Btep off tho pavement from under the verandah, bui; as I stepped down the street seemed to sink away. I was thrown full length out into the roadway. ''l scrambled on hands and knees out into the middle of the street and tried to stand up, but down I went again, so I lay there, powerless even to stand. The road was undulating, and shop buildings on each side of thi3*strect swayed and creaked in eerie fashion. One building was just rocking about like a cork in water. Vefandah posts resembled 'dogs' hind legs,' before finally everything settled down. An Uncanny Spectacle

''When the shake was at its height ihe sky was tinged a bluish green. It y as/ something very uncanny, just as it the earth had ..blown its pent-up forces out close to the town, and as if escaping gases were reflected in tho sky, Others noticed tho green sky, too. It 'would give you the creeps. It was an awful feeling as I was lying on tho roadway, with buildings crashing on each side of the street." The street lights in all the main business area failed, from the Bank of New Zealand corner northward. This added to the uncertainty amid tho .wreckage and tho desolnte scene.

r [?Jic Mayor has forwarded a message to the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, and also to the Minister of Lands, the Hon. li. A. Hansom, stating that funds are -urgently required to pay for labour in salvaging earthcj un ke-d a maged premises. At a meeting of the Farmers' Union this, afternoon it was resolved unanimously that strong representations bo made to .the Government, urging the vitE 1 necessity for the Public Works Department to take control of the reconstruction of chimneys destroyed, and suggesting that, owing to the magnitude of the disaster, each home so damaged be provided with one chimney end the restoration of its water service.

TWO DEATHS REPORTED • ■. * PAHIATUA BUSINESS MAN 'RESIDENT OF GREYTOWN r J,Vo deaths following the earthquake are: reported to have occurred. A Press Association message from ,a^ ua ' states that Mr. Andrew Iringle, a leading business man of the town, who had been seriously ill, was making a hurried escape from his home afwr hearing the crash caused by tho first shock. He collapsed and died suddenly. A message from Carterton states that Mify, Len Greathead, of Greytown, who had been suffering from heart trouble for some time, collapsed during thij terrifying experience and died at Ithi: Be o'clock yesterday morning.