We learn about the Edgecumbe Earthquake

On the first day of school, Mrs Vincent read us a short story about the Napier earthquake which happened on the first day of the school year in 1931. We talked a bit about earthquakes and Rosie told us her grandmother was in the Edgecumbe earthquake of 1987. We invited her to talk to us.

In Week 2, Rosie's nana, Judy Dawson, came to talk to us about earthquakes and her past experience of being in an earthquake. In the year 1960, Rosie's nana was teaching a class in Whakatane and they didn't have our type of technology (e.g computers/laptops, not much electricity, etc.) and had not had any fire drills or earthquake drills. Once, a tidal wave was heading to Whakatane, (where she was teaching) and she didn't know that the town's siren was a tidal wave warning. Parents were worried and teachers tried to evacuate all the children. This was her very first disaster experience.

In 1987 she was working at a preschool with 20 children in Kawerau. The little children were doing a little project and some Intermediate students came to assist the preschoolers. Suddenly there was a strong eathquake and they all got under the very low tables. A big cupboard fell over and crashed to the ground but no one was hurt. Nobody could get home straight away because the bridges were damaged. It took a long time for everyone to find their families again and some people had to stay away from their children that night because they could not get home. A lot of people had a huge mess to clean up in their homes because food and crockery fell on the floor and glass jars smashed and it all got mixed together.

The railway lines were buckled, there were splits in the land and across roads, many houses were damaged and many people were frightened about another earthquake.

Can you see where the earthquake has split the land?

This is a photo of a newspaper page showing the buckled railway lines.

We learned a lot about what it is like to be in an earthquake and what to do if an earthquake happens. At school, you get under your desk or a table as quickly as you can. If you are at home get under a table which is a lot stronger than a door way.

We would like to thank Mrs Dawson for talking to us and sharing her experiences.

Check out these links to really interesting sites about earthquakes.

This is the geonet.org site which shows the activity of quake drums which show if there has been any earth tremors. Click on "Latest quake" and "shaking maps" to learn about the latest earthquake in New Zealand.

This map shows where the latest earthquakes in the world have happened.

This is a video of what happens to your home in an earthquake and tells you what to do in an earthquake.

How quake-safe is your home? Dial an earthquake. Create your own earthquake to see what happens as the shaking gets stronger.