Jean Martin was working as a housekeeper in Napier when the 1931 earthquake struck. She remembers the motion of the earthquake, and describes the scene outside. This photograph shows dramatic wreckage on a Napier road.
Transcript
Well there was the bump up then we seemed to go round, well I don't remember what I was on the floor cos I couldn't stand. We couldn't walk against it. You just got thrown or you just grabbed something and hung on to it. That's the main thing was the noise and the violence and the atmosphere seemed wild, everything seem wild. When I looked out everything was dust flying everywhere and a movement of wind, trees were coming down and hitting the ground and bouncing up again. As I said to Mrs Todd, it was like the end of the world.
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Reference: Hawke's Bay Magazine, 7473
Sound file: Jean Martin, interview by Helen McConnochie for ‘Reflecting on disaster: memories of the Napier earthquake’, 1997–98 (1’29”–1’59”)