Six Shaken Roads: How the 1931 Earthquake affected Havelock North : Talk by Michael Fowler

Six Shaken Roads: How the 1931 Earthquake affected Havelock North

As part of the 80th anniversary of the 1931 Hawke’s Bay Earthquake, Michael Fowler will be giving a talk illustrated with photos on how Havelock North fared during the earthquake

On February 3, 1931, an earthquake centred near coastal Aropaoanui, 12km north of Napier, turned Hawkes Bay into a virtual war zone. The shock brought down buildings between Gisborne and Waipawa and toppled chimneys from Taupo to Wellington. On a per capita basis it was New Zealand's most lethal single calamity. There was 171 aftershocks that day. There were 525 aftershocks recorded in the following two weeks. The main shock could be felt in much of the lower half of the North Island. The 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake caused the largest loss of life and most extensive damage of any quake in New Zealand’s recorded history.
GNS Science
• Location: Hawke’s Bay
• Date (NZ Summer Time): Tuesday, February 3 1931 at 10:47 am
• Epicentre: 39.3°S, 177.0°E
• Focal Depth: 20 km
• Maximum Intensity: MM 10
• Magnitude: MS 7.8
• Casualties: 256 killed, thousands injured
• GeoNet Summary:

The official death toll was 256 and 593 people sustained serious injuries that required hospitalisation. The earthquake was followed by fires in the business areas of both Napier and Hastings that became uncontrollable as water pressure dwindled because of broken water mains. The Ahuriri Lagoon in Napier was raised drastically in the earthquake, changing the coastline significantly and leaving hundreds of fish and horse mussels exposed on dry land.
The earthquake was felt throughout most of New Zealand except for areas in the far south and the far north. It also deformed the surface of the land in the surrounding area, pushing up a long dome running northeast-southwest. The dome was 17 km wide and over 90 km long, and extended from the northeast of the Mohaka River mouth to southwest of Hastings. The ground was raised by up to 2.7 m near the mouth of the Arapaoanui River, while at Hastings it sank by up to one metre. Along the dome created by the earthquake, some rock folded under the pressure, while at the south-western end about 15 km of rock was broken by surface faulting. Today, only 3 km of this fault trace remains visible.

In Havelock North there was damage to Iona College, structural and cracks in the main office, the hospital had some substantial damage too. Woodford House School again had damage mostly cracks broken windows etc., St Luke's Church where a wedding was about to happen when the quake struck it, the church tower toppled and the main entrance was blocked. No one was hurt and the wedding went ahead in the afternoon outdoors on the lawn. The was some damage to St Columba’s Church and Manse. The power transformer and toilets had some damage to the bell on the roof. In the central business district of Havelock North there was substantial damage to the two storeyed building of Foster Brooks, it collapsed and caught fire. The Forrester’s Lodge and Library was okay. The Exchange Hotel crumbled to the ground. The Havelock North Bridge was devastated and the water supply was lost and Havelock was isolated from Hastings and Napier. I was three weeks before the bridge was re-built.