WRECKAGE AT WOODVILLE

Taranaki Daily News, 7 March 1934, Page 9

WRECKAGE AT WOODVILLE

PROPERTY LOSS VEIRY HEAVY SOME PEOPLE THROWN FROM BEDS HAVOC AMONG SHOP STOCKS. PLATE GLASS WINDOWS SMASHED. By Telegraph—Press Association. Woodville, March 6. Woodville was rocked last night by the worst earthquake in living memory. No one was injured, but the property damage runs into many thousands of pounds. The first shock at 11.48 p.m. awakened all sleepers, throwing some from their beds. Practically every chimney in the town and district is down and others are unsound. Crockery was broken wholesale. The worst damage was in the business area, where stock was thrown from the shelves, plate glass windows were smashed and parapets and brick walls fell. Other walls are unsafe and will have to be removed. The Club Hotel chimney crashed through the kitchen, which was completely wrecked. A chimney from*the Masonic Hotel went through the vestibule roof of the Kosy Theatre adjoining. Grocers and chemists were the heaviest, losers. Practically everything movable was thrown to the floor and was smashed. The damaged stock is estimated at over £lOOO. In Galbraith’s store six plate windows were cracked. Most other shop windows were cracked or broken. Reports from country districts state that chimneys are down and crockery has been wrecked. Cracks have been opened in some roads and bridge approaches. The borough water and gas supplies are intact. Grinlinton’s (furnishers) double chimney crashed through two floors, taking with it a wardrobe and embedding it in the ground. Minor shocks followed the first shake. Many people walked the streets throughout the night DEBRIS LITTERS PATHS WALLS CRACKED AT MASTERTON. FAILURE OF ELECTRIC LIGHT. Masterton, March 8. The earthquake was felt severely in Masterton at 11.49, causing general alarm. It was of a swaying motion. Considerable damage was caused, plate glass windows being shattered and plaster falling ,in some buildings. Another heavy shake was recorded at 11.58 p.m. A number of Queen Street business premises suffered fairly extensive damage and in places the footpaths were littered with broken glass and fragments of brickwork. In Queen Street over 30 plate glass windows were broken and several buildings were badly cracked, while in the rear portions of a number of premises brick work came away. Portion of the rear part of the Opera House came down, while the post office, clock is damaged and there are cracks in the walls.

Some parts of the residential area escaped damage, while in others chimneys collapsed and household articles were scattered in all directions. At Te Oreore and Wanaehu and towards the East Coast the damage was fairly heavy, chimneys being down in all directions in some areas. Conditions were made worse by the electric light failing. Many of the shops at Masterton are a scene of destruction owing to goods being violently flung down. In one street in Masterton there are more than ten chimneys down.

Communication north of Pahiatua was cut off and chimneys there suffered severely. Langdale Valley, on the East Coast near Masterton, also felt the shake severely. Considerable minor damage was done throughout the district, chimneys being down and cracks opened in the roads. At 9.30 o’clock this morning another slight but pronounced shake was felt. ROAD AND BRIDGE DAMAGE FORCE OF QUAKE AT LEVIN. . MINOR LOSSES IN THE SHOPS. Levin, March 6. Practically the full force of the earthquake was felt at Levin. The Wirokino bridge on the LevinFoxton highway was damaged and is closed to traffic.

The shake was heralded by lightning over the Tarariias. Dwellers in the business area rushed to the streets. Several brick walls were cracked and broken but stocks received only minor damage. Fully 50 chimneys are down. Two concrete ornaments fell from Garland’s buildings. The north and east portions of the town suffered most.

The railway ballast south of Paraparamu is cracked, holding up early trains till repairs were effected. At Shannon the damage was similar to that at Levin. At the approaches to the new Manawatu bridge on the Shan-non-Foxton highway fillings are sunken and cracked. The bridge is safe although the approaches are bumpy.

RECORD AT OBSERVATORY

PAHIATUA PROBABLE CENTRE.

DELICATE INSTRUMENTS FAIL.

Wellington, Last Night.

Dominion Observatory records show that the first shock last night was at 11 hours 46 minutes 19 seconds. There was another shock at 11 hours 58 minutes, and a further one at 12 hours 6 minutes. After that there were eight fairly large shocks which might have been felt by people or might not, but which left very clearly defined records on the seismographs. Altogether, including these, there were 22 after-shocks, some of which might be described as microscopic. Judging from the shocks as recorded the epicentre of the shake must have been 96 miles from Wellington and, though this is not yet definite, it seems as though the Pahiatua district is indicated. The intensity of the shock at Wellington on the Rossi-Forrel scale was roughly 6. Two of the pendulum clocks stopped and practically every other clock except chronometers suffered slight damage. These adjustments occupied a considerable time, but with the help of ships’ chronometers, which are less subject to vibrations and jolts, it was possible to work out the time signal for 11 a.m. to-day. The effect of the shake on the finer seismological instruments was even more marked. The two Milne Shaw seismographs, which will record a shock at a great distance, will not stand up to sturdy local shocks, and these were put completely out of adjustment by the shake.