January 23, 1855 Earthquake: Wellington,waiouru,wanganui,otaki, New Zealand

On January 23, 1855 after 21:00 [local time], 41.25 N, 175 E, magnitude 8. There was an earthquake in Wellington and vicinity, lasting for 1.5 minutes. All brick buildings collapsed, as did the bridge over the Hutt River. In certain areas of the Remutaka Mountain range the vegetation cover slid from the spurs, baring the rock. Over the course of several days lesser shocks continued with varying intensity. In Otaki, 250 tremors were recorded during the night. In Nelson province, in particular in Worcester, damage was slight and not one brick house collapsed. In Taranaki and Canterbury the earthquake was weak, and in Auckland and Otago provinces it was not felt at all. In Otaki, many brick ovens were ruined, and people found it difficult to stand upright. Cave-ins and landslides occurred, causing the road to Wellington to become impassable. In Wanganui ovens were damaged. According to other data the earthquake was felt over the whole of New Zealand, and at sea, at least up to 280 km from the coast. The area affected by the shock was estimated to be 1,200,000 km2.

The earthquake was caused by a movement along a fault with a north-easterly strike. The region to the west of the fracture lifted, whereas, along the coast about 30 km north of Wellington no apparent lifting occurred. But from this point to Penkarrow Hill, located to the east of Port Nicholson at the entrance into the bay, the amount of lifting gradually increased, reaching 2.7 m on the western side of the fault, which coincides with the eastern slopes of the Remutaka range. The eastern side of the fault was not disturbed. As a result of the lifting of the shoreline, the flood tide no longer went up the Hutt River.

At the same time, the south coastline of Cook Strait dropped 1.5 m and the flood tide began to go considerably father up the Wairau River than before the earthquake. At the time of the earthquake huge ocean waves rolled onto the shore (of Cloudy Bay), and then during the next several weeks the course of the tides was irregular. The wave left dead fish in its wake on the Wellington racecourse. Many dead fish, among them unknown species, were also found floating in Cook Strait.

In Wellington, the ship Pandora was anchored in 11 m of water. According to the captain, the shocks that were generated during the earthquake, which lasted over a minute, felt as if the ship was hitting rough bottom. Disembarking with his mate onto the beach, the captain became aware of a rapid succession of ebbs and flows.

In Wellington, there were two small earthquakes. During the first, which lasted more than a minute, all the houses collapsed. The vessels riding at anchor in the port were dragged away by the current...In areas where the earthquake had been the strongest, the coast had lifted 0.7 m (2 1/4 feet).

(above from reference #415)