Earthquake jolts Hawke’s Bay

Press, 24 April 1979, Page 2

Earthquake jolts Hawke’s Bay

PA Napier Early-morning workers fled from swaying buildings in Wairoa yesterday when an earthquake lolted the North Island town. The Wellington Seismological Office recorded the , earthquake as 5.1 on the, open-ended Richter scale. A spokesman said its epicentre: was off the southern tip of’ Mahia Peninsula m Hawke’s Bay. The earthquake was accompanied by a rumble and: jolted many homes as ward-; robe doors crashed open and ! lights swung crazily. The worst effects were ini shops where goods toppled: from display stands and ended up strewn on floors. Storekeepers referred to breakages as “minor" although losses between soo and $lOO were common. The most damage was caused in grocery shops.!

Cans of food rolled about : the floors and some goods in : glass bottles or jars were spilt after their containers i smashed. Crockery was' broken in some shops. The earthquake was morel’ noticeable at Raupunga,’ j south of Wairoa, which: ’ apparently is closer to the ’ fault line beneath Hawke’s!’ ‘Bay. : People there were shaken!: and the jolt seemed to linger |1 longer than it apparently didii at Wairoa, a resident said. A spokesman for then [D.S.I.R. (Mr G. A. Ivy) .said jl the earthquake was centred;’ 20km off the tip of then [Mahia Peninsula and was: ’only one of several. Alrf though the department was, having difficulty sorting I them all out, he put the! exact time of the Mahia ’ 'quake at 7.44 a.m. People in Napier and Gis-i borne also reported feeling the shocks.