Quake: Hawke's Bay, 1931

On 3 February 1931, Hawke's Bay was shattered by the largest earthquake ever recorded in New Zealand. It was a disaster of national proportions, damaging buildings from Gisborne to Wanganui, a catastrophe that officially killed 256 and seriously injured more than 400. Fresh pictures, diaries and eyewitness accounts have continued to emerge, painting a picture of immediacy that spans the decades. Scientific analysis has revised most of the previously accepted details of the seismic event, including the strength of the quake - recalculated in 1981 to have had a magnitude of 7.8. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, Matthew Wright brings the tragic events of February 1931 to life in this account of New Zealand's most destructive natural disaster. This reprinted edition includes a range of previously unpublished photographs.