1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake

thumb|Damage to the Hawkes Bay Tribune building

The 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, also known as the Napier earthquake, occurred in New Zealand at 10:47am on 3 February, killing 256, injuring thousands and devastating the Hawke's Bay region. It remains New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster. Centred 15 km north of Napier, it lasted for two and a half minutes and had a magnitude of 7.8 (7.7 ).

Tectonic setting

New Zealand lies along the boundary between the Indo-Australian plate and Pacific plates. In the South Island most of the relative displacement between these plates is taken up along a single dextral (right lateral) strike-slip fault with a major reverse component, the Alpine Fault. In the North Island the displacement is mainly taken up along the Hikurangi Subduction Zone, although the remaining dextral strike-slip component of the relative plate motion is accommodated by the North Island Fault System (NIFS).

The earthquake is thought to have occurred on one of the larger thrust faults within the accretionary wedge, at between ca. 5 km depth and ca. 20–25 km depth (which is the approximate depth of subducted Pacific plate at that location).

Damage and effects

thumb|Comparison map of the extent of Ahuriri Lagoon before (left) and after (right) the earthquake

Nearly all buildings in the central areas of Napier and Hastings were levelled (The Dominion noted that "Napier as a town has been wiped off the map"). The most noticeable land change was the uplifting of some 40 km<sup>2</sup> of sea-bed to become dry land. This included Ahuriri Lagoon, which was lifted more than 2.7 metres Today, this area is the location of Hawke's Bay Airport, housing and industrial developments and farmland.

Fires

Within minutes fires broke out in a few chemist shops in Hastings Street, Napier.

There was also severe damage to sewerage systems, gas supply and telegraph systems.

Transport

The earthquake caused great damage to Napier's roads, railways,

New Zealand's first commercial air disaster occurred six days after the quake, when a Dominion Airlines Desoutter monoplane crashed near Wairoa. The small airline had been making three return trips a day between Hastings and Gisborne, carrying passengers and supplies. All three on board were killed.

Miscellaneous

A group of prisoners working at Bluff Hill in Napier had four of their number buried in a landslip by the quake. The remaining prisoners dug them out, but two had been killed. The prisoners re-assembled without any attempt to escape and were locked up in the Napier Jail. In Taradale, Mission Estate missionaries' accommodation block had been built and opened on 2 February. The next day the earthquake struck, causing serious damage to the entire Mission. Two priests and seven students were killed when the stone chapel was destroyed. In Havelock North, St Luke's church was damaged (but not destroyed) just before a wedding was due to take place. The couple got married later in the day, but outdoors.

About 10 per cent of homes on soft ground in Napier experienced ground damage, such as liquefaction. There was a large amount of damage to buildings, mainly ones made of brick; the earthquake occurred before an earthquake building code was introduced. The Napier Daily Telegraph newspaper office was destroyed, and so was the Hawke's Bay Heralds printing facility in Hastings. Napier Technical College was destroyed, which caused it to be disestablished and amalgamated into Napier Girls' High School and Napier Boys' High School.

Casualties

The official death toll was 256 although the Napier earthquake memorial lists 258 names. Of these, 161 people were in Napier, 93 in Hastings and two in Wairoa. 8 from Grand Hotel and 7 at the Greenmeadows seminary. mainly women and children. Men were expected to stay to help out with the recovery. The army and navy also arrived in Napier to help with the recovery. Nelson Park served as Napier's "evacuation centre" which was the site of many tents and was able to cater for over 1,000 people from a field kitchen. Many people also lived in tents in Marine Parade and other places. There were several places that gave out free food in Napier and Hawke's Bay, such as in several schools. Water barrels were also kept full to allow for people to take from them, after losing water access from their homes. He added "Some inland parts of Hawke's Bay felt this aftershock more strongly than 3 February quake ... but 'there was no damage of any moment'. People rushed into the streets in Dannevirke and Masterton. In Wellington all but one of the clocks stopped working in the Dominion Observatory, and ceiling lights in the Evening Post offices swayed more vigorously than they had the week before".

Recovery

The government quickly realised that the Napier borough council would be overwhelmed with organising the rebuild and appointed two commissioners for this task, John Barton and Lachlan Bain Campbell. When the commissioners were due to leave in May 1933, they were petitioned to stay, and Barton was invited to stand for the mayoralty, which he declined.

thumb|The temporary shopping centre known as "Tin Town"

Several temporary structures were built following the earthquake, including the shopping centre commonly referred to as Tin Town in Clive Square. It remained for about two years, housed over 50 businesses, and was created with a £10,000 loan which were found to be totally inadequate. The first earthquake building code was created in 1935. Many buildings built during the 1930s and 1940s are heavily reinforced, although more recent research has developed other strengthening techniques. Building regulations established as a result of this event mean that to this day, there are only four buildings in Hawke's Bay taller than five storeys, and as most of the region's rebuilding took place in the 1930s when Art Deco was fashionable and at its peak resulting in a major cultural change of the city, Hawke's Bay architecture is regarded today as being one of the finest collections of Art Deco in the world.

At the time of the earthquake, there were no national emergency response organisations or legal provisions in case of such disaster, which was a hindrance to recovery. As a result, new legislation had to be passed quickly, such as the Hawke's Bay Earthquake Act 1931 which received assent on 28 April to give out loans for the rebuild. The Great Depression caused difficulty gathering funds however, so a large portion came from charity.

On the tenth anniversary of the earthquake, the New Zealand Listener reported that Napier had risen from the ashes like a phoenix. It quoted the 1931 principal of Napier Girls' High School as saying "Napier today is a far lovelier city than it was before".

The New Napier Carnival was held in January 1933 to celebrate the rebuild of the town, which officially declared it reborn. A clock tower memorial was built in Hastings in 1935, which serves the purpose of symbolising recovery rather than being a memorial.

Hastings holds a commemoration every year on 3 February for the earthquake, which starts at 10.30am and has clock towers ring at 10.47, which was the same time the earthquake struck.

The HMS Veronica Sunbay memorial is located on Marine Parade, which remembers the crew of the ship Veronica. It was built in 1934 and named in 1937 after the ship was decommissioned. The ship's bell is used for community services. The council decided in 2024 that the memorial will be restored again after it was deemed potentially unsafe.

Gallery

File:1931 Hawkes Bay Earthquake (24629925176).jpg|Road damage

File:1931 Hawkes Bay Earthquake - Port Ahuriri (24024285884).jpg|Port Ahuriri

File:1931 Hawkes Bay Earthquake - Napier Post Office (24289573619).jpg|Napier Post Office

File:1931 Hawkes Bay Earthquake - Wairoa Post Office (24657555975).jpg|Wairoa Post Office

File:1931 Hawkes Bay Earthquake - Collapsed Building (unidentified) (24655070915).jpg|Collapsed building (unidentified)

File:1931 Hawkes Bay Earthquake - Town Hall, Napier (24529620482).jpg|Town Hall

File:1931 Hawkes Bay Earthquake - Baker and Pastrycook shop, Waipawa (24026499144).jpg|Baker and Pastrycook shop, Waipawa

File:1931 Hawkes Bay Earthquake - Dr Moore's Private Hospital (24555825871).jpg|Dr Moore's Private Hospital

File:1931 Hawkes Bay Earthquake - Port Ahuriri - HMS Veronica at Wharf (24025654223).jpg|Port Ahuriri - HMS Veronica at Wharf

File:New Zealand Loan & Mercantile Agency Co Ltd - Hastings, Hawke's Bay - Remains of office and store after Hawke's Bay earthquake (52960).jpg|New Zealand Loan & Mercantile Agency Co Ltd office

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Notes

References

Bateman New Zealand Encyclopedia, edition 4 (1995). Article: Napier

External links

Art Deco Napier
Hawkes Bay Disaster 1965 film on YouTube