Experiencing the 1968 Inangahua Earthquake

[@blueycaldwell4273]

I came across this by sheer chance. I was born and raised at Inangahua. Our first house had been the site of where the church jumped from its piles. Our old shop at the Junction was munted and I was always curious where it and the hotel were dumped. There was no dump there in my days. Earthquakes were not uncommon, but none like this disaster. It was stronger in intensity than the ChCh ones latterly, but nothing like the consequences. I left the West Coast in 1959, but it will always be home. In fact I tried to explain how we lived in the 40-50's to my grand children in September 2021, Myron Caldwell

[@trevorjohnston9542]

What a great little doco of the big shake. I was 17 and attending Inangahua College in Reefton at the time. My parents had the poultry farm next to the golf course and I recall how the fowls went off the lay due to all the trauma caused by the shaking & aftershocks. Fortunately our home only lost the two chimneys and preseves from the cupboards etc. It was indeed a very scary time and we felt for the Inangahua students at our school who had to be evacuated for fear of the Buller landslide dam bursting. There were plenty of stray dogs around for a while after the big shake. The car in the hole near Cronadun belonged to Pat Smith. We heard he had backed it out of the shed for safe keeping and straight into the hole. The opening scenes look like the Reefton Saddle road subsidence that caught another motorist out. An event we won't forget in a hurry. Trevor Johnston

[@paton57]

Hey Trevor Mike Jarvis here, something we will never forget

[@philipgibson9566]

Was an Engineer on a collier alongside in the Gray River... The river lifted and shook the ship.. New it was a shake.... Looking out of porthole actually saw those power lines mentioned clashing and flame... Most of the officers were from GB... Not experienced an earthquake ever... We're quickly on deck as thought ship was adrift... Was informed soon after the Wharf cranes were tottering over ship to almost collapse on it... At daylight walked the street to find glass shops damaged and fire station frontage bricks down... Later that morning after more after shocks I called into the Brianbaru? Hotel.. There was about twenty or so blokes drinking steaderly, with not a murmur.. These blokes had been down the mine.. That night at the Far end hotel the sad and some humur stories appeared with the pub jolts... Phil Gibson

[@GNSscience]

Thank you for your amazing account of the event!

[@nikiTricoteuse]

Thank you. Great to learn more about this. I was 8 when it struck so only ever heard whispers about what had happened.

[@nikiTricoteuse]

I was 8 when this struck and living about 100kms away in Stillwater. I remember it vividly because, it was the first earthquake I'd felt and when the shaking woke us, we discovered that, all of our pictures had fallen off the walls. It was only over the following weeks that news filtered through about what had happened. Much of it discussed in whispers by the grown ups. Very interesting to see the photos again after so many years and find out what actually happened rather than overheard rumours.

[@danielwopereis8134]

Great photo essay Simon. Thankyou for putting this together.

[@bryansellars8921]

We'd only emigrated from England the year before, living in Stoke near Nelson I heard a little voice "who's rocking the house" was my eldest son nearly 5, it's something you never experience in the UK

[@kerrysmith1899]

Informative and entertaining. I would like to see some pics of the same locations 50 years later.

[@derekmills5394]

In May 1974 I was on a school trip around the South Island with a teacher who was a Geology buff. He pointed out the slips and the main fault where it had moved some metres. It had all overgrown to some extent, but was still very obvious when pointed out to us, 6 years later.

[@Yahudikiwi]

I was 9 years old but I still remember the newspaper headline and the enormity of the damage 😔

[@LWJCarroll]

Thanks this was really informative about wooden houses being better at withstanding a quake. Laurie.

[@sik19999]

thank you. informative and well put together. must have been a very scary wake up

[@gilesbollinger4056]

Excellent piece. Good work Team!

[@tiffskin3209]

Thank you for this reminder, very informative.

[@carolmcewing-anderson8629]

That was interesting. Thank you. It was only with the Christchurch earthquake that I had heard of liquefaction.

[@paton57]

I was 8yrs old and lived in Ahaura and will never ever forget that morning, I thought the roar before the shaking started was the train going over the Ahaura rail bridge

[@angelaparlane7442]

A friend of my mother's in matamata, her mother died in the inangahua earthquake, from the roof collapsing on her in her bed. Her father walked 5 miles into town with a broken leg

[@DhanishtaDevi]

Thank you that was fascinating. Always love learning new things. :)

[@LossyLossnitzer]

Thank you. I had never heard of this earthquake.

[@mandyjohnmoore9633]

I was 7 years old when this guy hit the coast. All other quakes since then have not really bothered me. I live in Wellington so they are fairly frequent. Only when the entire house starts to rock and roll do I pause! What a night Inangahua was.

[@ellykara1]

I lived in Stoke. I remember how our concrete paths were cracked and the plaster on our house but luckily we didn't get any structural damage. It is an event I've never forgotten although I was only seven at the time.

[@KandMe1]

I remember that earthquake but I slept through it. It was such big news. And I remember on the news it was 6.9 printed in the local news paper in Christchurch.

[@PS-Straya_M8]

I heard a report of a farmer who witnessed a herd of cows being swallowed in the fissure and then the ground closed back up!

[@grendel_nz]

Excellent summary. Many thanks. Wooden braced well insulated buildings w corrugated metal roof, is obviously the way to go all along the Alpine fault zone. Don't build on floodplains or liquefaction areas. Simple stuff. Hope the councils and developers LEARN & REMEMBER!!! Move Franz Josef / Waiau! Strap and brace those piles Hokitika, et al.

[@angelaparlane7442]

We know from major flooding of Westport and up here around auckland and hawkes Bay that councils have taken no notice about road construction and building on hillsides being done with potential for earthquakes and heavy rain in mind nor not building on flood plains...so many new housing developments built in gullies and next to creeks or river beds and areas without stormwater drains

[@blairmarquis8375]

My great grandfather died driving a taxi in that earthquake

[@peterfarrellsupercars]

Well I can certainly add to this story. I was 10 years old living in Greymouth. I remember to this day waking up at 5.27am in the morning with the chimney falling into my bedroom. Scared me so much that after a change of underwear I moved to Auckland a few days later. One of the 3 killed was a family friend Wally Hale. He was the local taxi driver and offered to drive to Ranunga after the first shock to check on his fellow cab driver buddy's family. At the 5 mile bridge another tremor occurred and the solid concrete bridge floor rose up from the road and Wally plowed into it in his white 1965 Falcon cab. Died shortly thereafter. I have terrified of earthquakes all my life since.

[@prosodiclearning]

Thanks, Pete

[@factory14]

Great interesting video.Always one that puts thumb down on anything.

[@GNSscience]

@@peterfarrellsupercars Thank you for this dramatic memory.

[@stelley08]

@@peterfarrellsupercars my mum recalled the same story, she was in Greymouth (Cobden) at the time the quake hit and remembered the taxi driver being killed on the bridge.

[@hrtymongrel]

6 dAes old 1968 born nZ 18th

[@lautoka63]

It doesn't seem like enough of the lessons learnt were applied to house construction on unconsolidated land in Christchurch: is that a fair comment, GNSS?

[@angelaparlane7442]

Absolutely, going by the ongoing damage don't think councils have bothered anywhere in new zealand :(

[@allgood6760]

The power of nature

[@maureendunlop1291]

my husband was sent over with others from NZED to fix chimneys

[@MrAshleyHitt]

I was four at the time

[@bonnie_gail]

Dutchsinse is pretty good at forecasting earthquakes.

[@Kiwigeo8339]

No hes not. Hes a scientifically illiterate fraud.

[@prosodiclearning]

dang the nang

[@johnfitzgerald4206]

With all that knowledge, one would think the narrator would have the nouse to pronounce the lingo properly. Instead, he revels in colonial ignorance.

[@prosodiclearning]

and you snivel in yours

[@yootoobnz8109]

Grow up racist twat.