A SEVERE EARTH TREMOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 3513, 12 July 1921, Page 38

A SEVERE EARTH TREMOR.

About hali-past 1 o'clock on the morning of the 23th ult. a prolonged and rather severe earth tremor was felt in prae-tir -ally every part of the Dominion, but no serious damage was done anywhere. The quake appears to have been most severe about V\ anganui, Gisborne, and Hustings. About Wanganui some 30 chimneys were damaged, a building collapsed by a- brick wall bringing down a chimney, and a water mam was damaged. At Gisborne about 35 chimneys were damaged, and era cks are showing in the walls of some buildings. At Hastings several chimneys were damaged, stiop windows smashed, and crockery and bottles ,in shops and hotels smashed. Women and others rushed out into the streets in their night attire. At Blenheim some chimneys were damaged. In Dunedin the tremor was but lightly felt, while in St. Kilda adjoining the shocks were quite severe, and many clocks were brought, to a standstill. THE SEISMOGRAPH RECORD. WELLINGTON, .July 1. A seismograph record of the earthquake on Wednesday morning has been developed. Dr C E. Adams, Government Astronomer, /kites that the epicentre or source of the* earthquake was so close to Wellington that it is impossible to tel! from the record anything more than the time the shake occurred. The location of an epicentre depends on calculations in which tho factors are the times occupied by tho travel of the different i waves from the epicentre to the re- ! cording instrument. When these points j are close together there is no notiee- | able difference in these times, and that is I the case with the records under discussion. ! The time the first impulse was recorded I was 1.29 a a.m. Dr Adams has a cable j message from Sydney which places the epicentre 40 miles south-east of Napier.