SEVERE EARTHQUAKE

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3917, 12 March 1929, Page 2

SEVERE EARTHQUAKE

DOES MUCH DAMAGE AT ARTHUR’S PASS. TREMORS FOR EIGHT HOURS. From 10.52 on Saturday night a succession of violent earthquakes created a panic at Arthur’s Pass and the residents hurriedly vacated their houses, which were considered unsafe, to live in.

Shocks occurred every quarter of an hour over a period of nearly eight hours, diminishing in intensity and in frequency towards morning.

Quantities of rocks kept crashing down the mountain sides and the tremors were accompanied by loud rumblings. The railway bridge leading into Arthur’s Pass, on examination in the morning, was found to be a foot higher than the track at one end, while gapiit? cracks had opened alongside the line. One fissure, nearly a mile long, ran parallel to the railway line leading into the Pass.

'The disturbance seems to have been localised at Arthur’s Pass and not one piece of crockery has been left intact in the houses. Waterservices have been interrupted and the pipes have burst in many houses. Many dwellings have consequently been flooded out. The concrete subway under the railway line at Arthur’s Pass has been cracked in many places. Many of the railway switches have been shattered and the railway lines over the bridge at Maori Creek have been left considerably higher than the permanent way as a result of a subsidence of earth at this point. In the railway yard at Arthur’s Pass, rails and sidings have been twisted and sleepers are appearing above the ground. Most of the people with fainalies left for Christchurch by a relief train Which was despatched from Springfield at 8.15 a.m., on Sunday, the relief train proceeding cautiously, was able to approach within three-quarters of a mile of Arthur’s Pass and those families which were vacating their homes walked from the township to t'he train. Residents who were leaving their homes included three invalids who were trolleyed over the damaged track. Many of the embankments on both sides of the tunnel are showing gaping cracks, but although no trains are going through the tunnel, it has not been seriously affected. oSTot a chimney in Arthur’s Pass has been left standing. The station chimneys came down through the roof of the. station verandah, but no damage was done to the buildings proper. Many of the buildings in the Pass, however, were damaged. iOn the Otira side of the tunnel, imany cracks opened in the railway embanlkmen, but apparently no serious damage has been done to the permanent way at this point. Tremors were experienced spasmodically yesterday but were not severe. A big gang is at present repairing the damage done to the lines, and •the township generally.