RECENT EARTHQUAKE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 February 1943, Page 2

RECENT EARTHQUAKE

DEEPER ORIGIN THAN USUAL, INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The short but sharp earthquake which wakened people in the Wellington district about 1.34 a.m. yesterday, was of origin comparatively close to Wellington, according to the acting Dominion seismologist, Mr R. C. Hayes. Pending receipt of records from recording stations elsewhere in the Dominion, he thought it might have been centred either in the region of Cape Palliser or Queen Charlotte Sound, about 30 to 40 miles from Wellington. It was of somewhat deeper origin than usual, and that made it more difficult to assess. It was of strength about 5J- on the Mercalli scale, which is now used to record the strength of earth tremors in the Dominion in place of the old, less detailed, Rossi-Forel scale, on which this earthquake would have been recorded as about strength 6 Mr Hayes added that on present data he thought that it was an isolated shock, unconnected with those which shook Wellington last year. The Wellington Town Hall, said the city engineer, Mr Luke, showed signs that the old cracks had moved a good deal, but no new damage had happened. This was probably due to the stage to which the new buttressing had progressed. Anything more severe might have caused considerable damage.