Severe Earthquate.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 130, 19 November 1901, Page 3

Severe Earthquate.

O "• '' IMMENSE DAMAGE'Wkiaikoton, November 16. The Postal Department is advised that the Cheviot post office' was completely wrt'eked by this rooming's earthquakeEverything was dmrtnntled, and every jar io the office broken. One .deatb' that of a baby, is reported, and tvo accidents occurred. Cheviot is in a s ate of collapse, and buainetw is suspended. Damage was also done to the post office at Waiau. NsiiSON, November 16 A prolonged shock of earthquake was felt at 7.45 this morning. It la»ted over half a minute, and its direction was from north to Bouth. Buildings rocked and groaned, the church clock stopped at the exact minute, and doors, crockery, pic turos, etc., swaye'l for several, seconds after the shook ceased. A marked feature of the shock was the length of its duration aud the gentle swaying and undulating mo< ion. Several people were quite scared, and some rufbod out of their h uses in alarm. Happily, though one of the lougest shocks ever felt here, the motion was not severe, and no damage is yet reported, Chbistohubch, November 16. One of the sharpest shocks of earthquake felt here for some years was experienced at 7.47 a.m. to-day. It la»ted over half a minute. The Catheilrvl spire was cracked in two places, and part of the Bpire under the cro'JS has been shifted about a foot. Beyond injuring the Cathedral re, the damage to oth<:r buildings is .not considerable. A leading builder estimates that, it will take £BOO to repair the Cahedral spire, the sane amount practically as on a former occasion. An interview with a gentleman who had come through to Rangiora from Cheviot to-day, showed that the earthquake at the latter place had been most disastrous. There is hardly a house habitable in the township, and the damage is variously *stimated at from £IO,OOO to £20,000. Every chimney in the settlement is dowu, not a single one standing. The first shock was so severe that the poople W' re thrown to the ground in all directions. The child killed was only two months old, and belonged to Mr Charles Johnsou. The family lived ?n a «od house with an iron roof, and en the first shock the whole structure col'apsed, the child being recovered d-»d from the ruins. The body of Dr Wilkin, aon, who died a few days previously, was thrown from the coffin, aud the house was much damaged. The township looks as though it had been through a bombardment. Many of the residents refuse to return to their dwellings, and are oamping in the open. The b.'ufl and beaoh roads are entirely blocked, and the aohoolhouse at Port Robinson is wrecked. ~£he. ,tele graph offiee suffered very, severely, all the instruments- being smashed and * very thing overturned. ' To illu»tt»te the force of the shook, heavy iron plates in Ue office were overturned. JThe shook was most severely felt in Mackenzie and Spottiawood. At Doineti the houses were, shaken and chimneys thrown down. ;

In the great shook at Cheviot, clouds of dust weie laised, and people ' thrown down. In some paces fissures opened in the ground, water issuing. A number j>f people were injured, some severely, by falling bricks. The bridges are-badly damaged, and there are slips in many phoss, On the bluff road, Port Robinson, thousands of tons of aiuff, are dowu, and it will take many months to clear. In Waiau £3OO worth, of damage has been done to the bote), and every chimney in the township will have to be rebuilt. At Haunter a new spring broke out and the water in .the other springs hae,turned black.

. The shock was felt all, over .the Bouth Island, but only a slight tremor, was felt in Waimate.