People fled outdoors, where they remained for the night in tents and makeshift beds, as incessant aftershocks rocked the area – one person counted 250 in the first 11 hours. The region had already experienced several large earthquakes, the very large 1855 Wairarapa Earthquake, and the 1934 Pahiatua earthquake in the Northern Wairarapa. For the first day after the main quake, as far away as New Plymouth an alm… Earthquakes usually occur along faults, which are existing fractures in the crust. The first inhabitants of the Wairarapa region had their own explanation for what was happening. [16][17], In Wellington the first quake toppled some twenty thousand chimneys. [18] In August there was serious damage near the Willis Street – Manners Street junction to three buildings: Charles Begg's music shop,[19] the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, and the Regent Hotel. [20][21][22][23] Manners Street between Willis and Cuba Streets was closed for several months. New Zealand sits right on the boundary of two giant tectonic plates – the Australian plate to the west, the Pacific plate to the east. Ruaumoko was just an infant when his parents were pushed apart by their children. Lake Raupo, one of the Hidden Lakes at Kopuaranga, formed in the 1855 earthquake. Bedrock generally shakes the least, while soft sediment or artificial fill can amplify shaking. At Porirua Lunatic Asylum (mental hospital) 800 patients had to be transferred to other hospitals. The 1855 earthquake occurred on the Wairarapa Fault which is part of the North Island Fault System. New Zealand uses a modified version of the Mercalli scale that is based on the local building types. The most powerful New Zealand earthquake on record occurred in Wairarapa in 1855. The latter was most dramatic at Muka Muka, on the western side of Palliser Bay, where the ground was raised by 2.7m. North of Masterton, a hillside was broken in half, partly falling into the Ruamahanga River, creating a temporary dam. As they travel outward from the earthquake source, earthquake waves lose energy and the shaking they cause gradually diminishes in intensity. At 11.16 pm a small and sharp but brief earthquake of magnitude 7.2 Ms (Mw 6.9-7.2) shook a wide area in the lower North Island from Eketahuna to Masterton, Featherston and Wellington; and was noticed from Auckland to near Dunedin. Most are too small to be noticed, but between 150 and 200 are big enough to be felt. The damage caused by earthquakes depends in part on the type of ground beneath buildings. [15] After the second quake Masterton's WFCA building partly collapsed. Two 1942 Wairarapa earthquakes shook the lower North Island of New Zealand; on 24 June and 2 August. Bedrock is better. Bedrock generally shakes the least, while soft sediment or artificial fill can amplify shaking. The aftershocks would continue for months. Some loose, water-saturated soils may even liquefy, producing geysers of sand or mud. Where the movement was greatest, the land shifted horizontally more than 18 metres, and part of the adjacent Remutaka Range rose more than 6 metres. The strength of the quake depends on the area of fault that has shifted and the amount of movement. Driven by convection currents deep within the earth, these plates move a few centimetres per year across the surface of the planet – the rate at which your fingernails grow. The 2 August aftershock was followed by a third severe aftershock on 2 December, with about 600 aftershocks recorded to the end of the year. [3] There was a further large aftershock on 2 December and another in February 1943.[4]. The June earthquake was sometimes referred to as the Masterton earthquake but both caused damage over a wide area, from Dannevirke and Eketahuna over to Whanganui and down to Otaki and Wellington. As the second quake was slightly less in magnitude than the first, they were not an earthquake doublet where the second shake is slightly larger. This sudden release of energy sends out waves, which are felt on the surface as an earthquake. Earthquakes are most frequent in regions where two moving plates meet and press against each other. To Maori, earthquakes are caused by the god Ruaumoko, the son of Ranginui, the sky, and Papatuanuku, the earth. Liquefaction was a major cause of damage to thousands of residential houses and the water and sewerage network in eastern Christchurch in the 2010–11 earthquake sequence. Plate boundaries, earthquakes and volcanoes (1st of 2), Extent of shaking, 1942 Wairarapa earthquake. The Richter magnitude was based on the largest amplitude ‘wiggle’ recorded on a seismograph. [1][2], The August earthquake can be regarded as an aftershock of the June earthquake. Next: Page 2. [7], Twenty thousand chimneys fell in Wellington and there was one death in Kelburn when a 70-year old retired chemist Hedley Victor Evens was killed by coal gas from a fractured pipe. Instruments record the ground shaking from over 20,000 earthquakes in and around the country each year. The evening of 23 January 1855 was the end of a two-day holiday, the 15th anniversary of Wellington’s founding. A magnitude 5 earthquake, for example, releases more than 30 times more energy than a magnitude 4, and a magnitude 6 more than 900 times more energy than a magnitude 4. Driven by convection currents deep within the earth, these plates move a few centimetres per year across the surface of the planet – the rate at which your fingernails grow. [24][25], A Wellington Hospital nurse was lucky to be on night duty as a chimney crashed onto her bed. Email: [email protected], Phone: 06 370 6311 The amount of damage to buildings caused by a given amount of shaking, however, varies from country to country, depending on the way the buildings are constructed. A few short years after Bidwill, Weld and the other pioneers of Wairarapa pastoralism made their way around the coast with their sheep, they were struck by the magnitude 7.5 Marlborough shock. Many shops had brick facades with ornate parapets and gable ends. The main earthquake was of 7.2 Ms and the epicentre was near Masterton and 12 km deep. The damage caused by earthquakes depends in part on the type of ground beneath buildings. Each unit of magnitude on the scale represents a substantial increase in energy. The earthquake was associated with the rupturing of approximately 150 km (93 mi) of the Wairarapa Fault. Commercial re-use may be allowed on request. The Wellington/Wairarapa area is one of the most earthquake-prone in the country, with major faults running along the axis of the Rimutaka and Tararua ranges, and other faults tracking across the valley in a north-east/south west direction. Ruaumoko was just an infant when his parents were pushed apart by their children. They were large and shallow with the epicentres close together east of Masterton in the Wairarapa region. [6] There was considerable damage in Palmerston North. There was one death in Wellington, on 24 June. Maps showing zones with different ground-shaking amplification, based on ground conditions, are available for several New Zealand cities. These two plates grate against each other, slipping as they crash together, resulting in the active volcanism of the central plateau, and the juddering earthquakes the country experiences at regular intervals. © Crown Copyright. The earthquake fault or fissure in the earth running north east from the middle of Cook Strait through the Wairarapa was about 140kms long, while the aftershocks lasted for about nine months (although there was no systematic seismic measurement in those days; the first seismograph arrived in 1880). Subsequent quakes, called aftershocks, occur nearby as the earth adjusts to the dislocation of land along the fault. Earth’s seemingly solid outer surface – the continents with their submarine shelves, and the rocky floor of the deep ocean – is in fact divided like a jigsaw puzzle into huge sections called plates. [9], Another shock in the area struck on 2 August at 12.34 am, preceded by a foreshock on the late afternoon of the 1st. Earthquakes happen every day in New Zealand. Behind the slip two lakes – one large, the other much smaller, formed – the ‘Hidden Lakes’ at Kopuaranga. Eileen McSaveney, 'Earthquakes - What causes earthquakes? New Zealand is in such a region – it strad… All non-text content is subject to specific conditions. They were large and shallow with the epicentres close together east of Masterton in the Wairarapa region. This was of magnitude 7.0 Ms (Mw 6.8) or slightly less than the earlier quake. The quake lasted for over a minute and had been preceded by a foreshock three hours earlier at 8.15 pm. The largest confirmed pre-European earthquake was the Haowhenua – ‘land swallower’ – about 1500, centred in the Wellington/Wairarapa area. For example, the Canterbury area experienced over 10,000 aftershocks in the five years after the 2010-2011 earthquakes. A huge tsunami crashed ashore along Palliser Bay, taking wool and other goods stored on the beach at Te Kopi, and then returning it with the next wave. During this quake, land moved along at least 140 kilometres of the Wairarapa Fault. Two 1942 Wairarapa earthquakes shook the lower North Island of New Zealand; on 24 June and 2 August. To Maori, earthquakes are caused by the god Ruaumoko, the son of Ranginui, the sky, and Papatuanuku, the earth. Shallow earthquakes, originating near the surface, cause more severe shaking and damage than deep earthquakes of the same magnitude. Earth’s seemingly solid outer surface – the continents with their submarine shelves, and the rocky floor of the deep ocean – is in fact divided like a jigsaw puzzle into huge sections called plates. The earthquake was centred near Masterton, and the heaviest damage was in the town’s business area. [14], In Masterton many buildings were badly damaged by the first quake; the fire station, the Bank of New Zealand, several shops and St Matthews Church (which was later blown up by the Army). It turned the island of Motukairangi into the peninsular we call Miramar today, and lifted Rongotai out of the sea. This scale ranks the severity of shaking by its effects on people, buildings and the environment – from barely perceptible tremors to ground movements that can topple large buildings. Shortly after 9 p.m. a violent earthquake began; in Wellington the main shock lasted for at least 50 seconds. Liquefaction was also prominent in the 1855 shake, with small sand volcanoes common. Fatalities were surprisingly few – in Wellington the hotel keeper Baron von Alzdorf was killed when a chimney fell on him, but in Wairarapa several Maori were killed when a whare collapsed. The magnitude 8.2 shake which lasted 50 seconds was caused by movement along the Wairarapa Fault, the land rising more than six metres in places, while the lateral movement exceeded 12 metres. The earthquake originated on the Wairarapa Fault and caused extensive faulting and uplift in epicentral areas. Buildings on liquefied soils may settle, fracture or list like ships. Phone: 06 370 6253 The first inhabitants of the Wairarapa region had their own explanation for what was happening. A horizontal displacement of up to 18 metres (59 ft) was accompanied by uplift and tilting of the Rimutaka Rangeon the northwestern side of the fault with vertical offsets of about 6 metres near the fault reducing to almost nothing on the western coast of the Wellington Peninsula.
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