Abstract
This paper is the result of a study of the shallow Mw = 7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake which occurred in the North Island of New Zealand, 2 February 1931 (UT), and which was the final spur to the production of the first earthquake loadings code in New Zealand issued in 1935. This earthquake was a direct hit on two provincial towns (Napier and Hastings) and was the most damaging in New Zealand's history, causing the most casualties, major fires, and much damage to the built and natural environments. It gives the first overall description of the damage (to the buildings and lifelines) in this major event in modem earthquake engineering terms, and presents the first intensity map for the event determined directly in the Modified Mercalli (MM) scale. The zone which experienced the highest intensity (MM10) was confined to a modest area of onshore land (about 300 km2) above the centre of the rupture surface.
Highlights
The Hawke's Bay earthquake originated at I0.46 am on 3 February 1931 (2 Feb 22.46 UT)
In deriving an elastic dislocation model from changes in ground levels caused by the Hawke's Bay event, and measured shortly afterwards, Haines and Darby [3] estimated its seismic moment from which Mw = 7.7-7.8 was obtained
The extension to the surface of the model of the rupture plane is the line of zero vertical displacement, shown on Figure 1 (A.J.Haines, pers. comm., 1996), and the short surface scarps, up to 4.5 m high [4], were secondary ruptures
Summary
This paper is the result ofa study of the shallow Mw= 7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake which occurred in the North Island of New Zealand, 2 February 193 l(UT), and which was the final spur to the production of the first earthquake loadings code in New Zealand issued in 1935. This earthquake was a direct hit on two provincial towns (Napier and Hastings) and was the most damaging in New Zealand's history, causing the most casualties, m~jor fires, and much damage to the built and natural environments It gives the first overall description of the damage (to the buildings and lifelines) in this major event in modem earthquake engineering terms, and presents the first intensity map for the event determined directly in the Modified Mercalli (MM) scale. The zone which experienced the highest intensity (MMl0) was confined to a modest area of onshore land (about 300 km2) above the centre of the rupture surface
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
