Hawke’s Bay earthquake swarm: Reactions to severe quakes

Houses and businesses are damaged and some people are fleeing after a swarm of earthquakes, some severe, hit Hawke’s Bay this morning and were felt across the North Island.

At least a dozen quakes have been recorded, beginning with a 5.9 temblor at a depth of 22km that was centred under Pōrangahau.

“We just got smashed by the biggest earthquake I have ever felt,” one Pōrangahau local wrote on Facebook. “S*** is flying everywhere out of cupboards and shelves, a second one just starting our house is rocking uncontrollably.”

The man said he had “never felt such huge shakes” and said he was forced out of his home.

“We are getting in our car, too dangerous in the house the shakes are continuing.”

A staff member at the Duke Hotel in Pōrangahau was in the upstairs office when the whole building shook from side to side.

”The only thing I managed to save was the computer in front of me. It’s all damaged. Everything is on the ground.

“We are just on the phones at the moment trying to find if we have to evacuate, questions about the tsunami are definitely rising.”

Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence earlier advised anyone who felt the earthquake as “long or strong” to move to higher ground, but a later release from the National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) confirmed that there was no tsunami threat.

A staff member at the Iron Museum in Pōrangahau said a lot of bottles and displayed items had fallen on the floor.

”I am inside the building there were two earthquakes one after the other. It was incredible. I am clearing the aisles.”

Pōrangahau woman Gretchen King shared a photo of the damage to her home, writing: “My parrot has seen better days but the wine is OK!”.

Gretchen King felt the quakes and said on Facebook: 'My parrot has seen better days but the wine is OK!'

Broadcaster Ian Smith was livestreaming when the quake hit. “Holy heck I’ve never commentated an earthquake before,” the veteran broadcaster exclaimed as the temblor rolled through.

The first quake was widely felt outside Hawke’s Bay, with Wellingtonians describing a “horrible, rolling” quake and residents in Manawatu saying it felt stronger than its given magnitude.

In Taranaki it was felt as a “nice wobble” - and at least two imaginative Aucklanders described feeling an “extreme” earthquake, via GeoNet’s self-reporting service.

Many liquor stores and businesses around the central Napier area felt the quakes but reported no damage. One liquor store employee in Ahuriri said it was “just a lot of clinking bottles”.

Angela MacGregor from Bottle-O Mangatera, in Dannevirke, told Hawke’s Bay Today the lights were swinging inside the store but nothing smashed or fell off the shelves. She said it went for a matter of minutes and stopped before starting again. “I thought ‘please don’t be a big one’.”

But drinkers in Pōrangahau weren’t so lucky. The Duke’s fridge was damaged and bottles smashed to the floor. Robert Houkamau told Hawke’s Bay Today that one patron came into the pub to buy cigarettes after the shock of seeing his TV topple and smash during the quake.

Damage in the fridge and office at The Duke, Porangahau. Photo / Robert Houkamau

“I just thought ‘what’s going to happen next?’” Houkamau said. “We’ve just been through a cyclone and flooding, now an earthquake, we don’t want a tsunami. We don’t want any more disasters.”