THE EARTHQUAKE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12082, 10 August 1917, Page 6

THE EARTHQUAKE.

■ * AX EX PER lEX OK. • To be working alone on the top storey oT a concrete building while it* is rocking as it' on the verge of collapse, iind to have the sensation accentuated by the. rattling of ink-bottles and the calls of frightened hunuin beings, is not one to be enned (writers a correspondent to a Masterton paper). Such, however, was my experience. The approaching shake was announced by :i rumbling noise, and the twitching of the building told of its arrival. My first, impulse was to sit tight and bravely see it out. The tremor, however, increased with such violence, that things about the. room began to move. " Good God. I nin doomed!" 1' exclaimed as, on rising from the seat, J was pitched about as if on the deck of a boat in a rough sea. My fir.st thoughts were for my wife and family. My next, well --■• what wore yours? A man always tries to be bravo in the midst of trouble, but he prefers to meet it in the open. I rushed for the. staircase, expecting every moment during tlio hurried descent to meet tho sound of falling mortar and brickwork. I reached the street, where others had gone before nie, but it seemed to no advantage, a.s the swaying was almost as violent as it was upstairs (though, of course, the feeling of lonesomeness had disappeared), and the rattling and gruesome noises continued. In a few more seconds it was all over, and then followed the hum of excited voices in the street. It wa v s a great .strain, and when my nerves had subsided to almost normal, a few minutes later, I ventured back to my room upstairs. The stay, however, was only temporary. Uncanny, creaking sounds recalled the happenings of a few minutes previously, and I left for tho bosom of my frightened family. An experience of this kind in a lifetime'will more than suffice ,my normal cravings for sensational happenings.