’QUAKE DAMAGE IN WELLINGTON

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 260, 1 August 1942, Page 2

’QUAKE DAMAGE IN WELLINGTON

Contributory Cause Of Landslips DEMAND FOR CHIMNEY REPAIRS Engineers believe that the severe earthquake throughout the Wellington Province on the night of June 24, has been a contributory cause of the many landslips which have occurred since. In any country with a top strata of soft earth or rotten rock, such as exists in and around Wellington, there is always such a danger. One engineer, on the occasion of the slips experienced last October, said that there would always be slips in Wellington, because of the steepness of the" cuttings made in the construction of. access roads in the hillsides. Someone once said: “God made Auckland, but the engineers made Wellington.” When it is remembered that a third of the business area of Wellington consists of land wrested from the harbour, and that every row of houses on the hillsides necessitated a sharp cut-into the hills for road access, bridges, or tunnels, it appears there is a good deal of truth in the saying. With steep cuttings, the only means of preventing slips was to build strong retaining walls, with plenty of provision for drainage, or the cement-washing of open faces. But even these safeguards failed under extraordinary conditions. In connexion with the big slips at Sar Street, the city engineer, Mr. Luke, is of the opinion that the earthquake may have caused a loosening of the ground in badly affected areas, making openings for the heavy rains of the succeeding week. It could have been a eontributary cause of the fall at Kilbirnie (near the traffic tunnel portal), and the slips on the Wadestown tramway line, and at Oriental Parade, to say nothing of the heavy displacements at Pukerua Bay.

There was no accurate means of telling to what extent the surface of the earth was affected by the big shake, but in a district such as Wellington, which has been cut about so much for road and railway purposes, it was reasonable to suppose that such a shake would have disruptive effects, Mr. Luke said. That was illustrated in a remarkable manner by the changes made in land contours in the Murchison (Nelson) district by the earthquake of some years ago.

Apart from local bricklayers and labourers who have been made available for earthquake repair work in the city, there are now more than 100 men in camp from other parts of the country. Of these 50 have been accommodated in the camp at Rongotai, and 48 in the Basin Reserve hutments. Arrangements for these camps and for supplying the men with meals, have been made under the direction'of the ■Commissioner of Defence Construction, Mr. J. Fletcher. One of the busiest offices in town is that of the Building Supervisor in Mercer’Street. All day long the counter of this office has been besieged by people requiring .some kind of repair work to be done as a result of the earthquake of a month ago. Many of these people are those who have been satisfied to give the office an occasional ring to ask, “What about it?" These inquiries serve no purpose, as the publis has been advised that it is necessary for the owner of damaged premises to pay a personal visit to tlie office and sign a form which renders him liable for the payment of the cost of repairs.