FURTHER EARTHQUAKES.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 18 November 1901, Page 3

FURTHER EARTHQUAKES.

Terrible Damage Done

Cheviot Settlers Ruined and Panic Stricken.

Another Severe Shock This Morning. Heavy Shocks Continuing The Earth Cracking in all Directions. Position becoming Alarming. (pee press association.) Wellington, This Day. The Secretary of the General Post Office lias received the following telegrams from the Postmaster at Cheviot: —“This morning at 8 40 a.m. several additional shocks of earthquake wore felt. Since the last report one occurred about 10 35 last night, which was of an exceedingly severe nature and has had a very alarming effect upon the inhabitants.

The recurrence of these shocks has prevented people from entering their dwellings and last night women again slept in the open air.

It is impossible to estimate the damage here, but investigations of representatives of newspapers lead me to conclude that many people are ruined and that an enormous sum will be required to make good the losses.

At 9 30 a.m. there was an enormous shock equal in force to the great shock of Saturday. A panic has set in and people are preparing to leave.

Mr Hogben, Inspector-General o Schools, who is in charge of one of the two sensitive seismological instruments imported by the Government, has examined the record taken by the machine. He states that the scat of the disturbance appears to have Imcn in Lake Summer district. The maximum vibrations lasted for two minutes.

The shock began without any warning at 7 471 a.m., and the vibration which constituted the earthquake proper went on for 9if minutes. Large tremors went on for 71 minutes and small tremors were going on all Saturday night up till 10 o’clock at night. "When Hogben cut the record paper the solid block stone on which the seismonoter stands was slightly .tilted towards the west. Hogben says that if the tilt were granted throughout the colony, which he thinks is improbable, it would mean that the west coast would sink six inches and that the east coast would bo raised three inches. Christchurch, This Afternoon. According to telegrams, daylight found Cheviot more demoralised u thau ever.

The residents were in the open air all night. There were several more shocks this morning, and there is a general exodus of women and children to Christchurch, Waipara and other places from the district round Cheviot. News continues to he received of devastation and loss.

The tremendous shock of this morning caused a panic, and the Cheviot people arc preparing to leave in large numbers.

Smaller shocks and earth tremors are felt every few minutes intermingled with more severe convulsions.

The position is becoming alarming Fresh cracks and fissures are continually opening up in the ground.

Earth '‘tremors” are comparatively a common experience in New Zealand; severe shocks were felt all over the South Island on Saturday. In the British Isles, on the other hand, earthquakes of any description are very few and far between. Scotland, however, was the scene of a severe shock of earthquake on September 17tb. In the district immediately north of the Grampian Hills its severity was the greatest within the memory of the present generation. No serious damage to property resulted, but for at least half a minute the tremor

in some places was so severe that beds rocked and houses were shaken to their

foundations. Some people declared that they were thrown out of bed by the shock. The accompanying noise “resembled that of a heavy sea breaking on tke shore.’’ The last earthquake in the Highlands occurred in 1890, and a rather severe shock occurred in 1815, the same year as “chat world-earthquake, Waterloo.”

A remarkable coincidence in connection with the earthquake of September 17th is that a similar shock was felt from the Grampians up the Caledonian Valley to Inverness on September 17th, 1801, one hundred years to the very day. One of the earliest earthquakes recorded in British history occurred in 1138, when “houses were overturned,” and “(lames issued from rents in the ground and burnt large quantities of timber.” More severe still was a shock which took place in Easter week, 1115, and of which Holinshed, in bis Chronicles, remarked;

“Its like had not been heard of in England since the beginning of the world ; for stones that lay couched fast in the earth were removed out of their plades, houses were overthrown, and the great Church of Lincoln rent from the top downards.” Even more remarkable however, was an earthquake felt in 1257 on St Valentine’s eve, for during three months prior to the occurance is is recorded that the sea ceased to ebb and flow on the English coast. In 1580 a shock which was felt almost throughout the kingdom, caused a terrible panic in London. People rushed terror-stricken from theatres and dwellings and many were trampled to death in the riot. An ‘-eye-witness” has vividly described the scene ; “The streets were thronged with an excited and panic-str-icken rabble. The scene was terrible, and almost beyond description ; the clanging of the bells, the subterranean noises, and the noise of falling houses ; the shrieks and lamentations of the people, mingled with loud cries to the Almighty for help and mercy from those who thought the last day was come, was enough to fill the stoutest hearts with fear. While the consternation was at its height a considerable portion of Sc Paul’s Cathedral and Temple Church was levelled to the ground, and worshippers were killed by the falling of stone from the roof” Another terrible panic occurred in London in March 1750, when several severe shocks wore felt.