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M 7.0, Wairarapa II, August 2 1942

The shock that struck the Wairarapa Region on August 2 was nearly as severe as the disastrous June 24 earthquake five weeks earlier.

Brick house damaged by earthquake, Wellington. August 1942. Reference No. EP-Science--Earthquakes-1940s-and-1950s-05. Part of The Dominion Post :Photographic negatives and prints of the Evening Post and Dominion newspapers (PAColl-7327). Part of Earthquakes in the 1940s and 1950s (EP-Science-Earthquakes 1940s and 1950s)

Brick house damaged by earthquake, Wellington. August 1942

Reference No. EP-Science--Earthquakes-1940s-and- 1950s-05
Part of : The Dominion Post :Photographic negatives and prints of the Evening Post and Dominion newspapers (PAColl-7327)
Part of : Earthquakes in the 1940s and 1950s (EP-Science-Earthquakes 1940s and 1950s)

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
  • Location: Wairarapa
  • Date (NZ Summer Time): Sunday, August 2 1942 at 12:34 am
  • Epicentre: 41.01°S, 175.52°E
  • Focal Depth: 40 km
  • Maximum Intensity: MM 8
  • Magnitude: MS 7.0
  • Further Information:

This earthquake’s epicentre was close to that of the June 24 event, but it originated deeper below the ground’s surface. How the earthquake was felt at the surface also differed from its predecessor, particularly in areas close to the epicentre, where the maximum intensity was less severe, reaching MM 8.

Nonetheless, a large amount of damage to buildings and structures was recorded following this earthquake. Several chimneys in the Wairarapa and in Wellington collapsed or were dislodged, some of which had been repaired following the June shock, whose mortar had not yet set1. Further identification of the earthquake’s effects on buildings in the area is complicated by the fact that some of the structural damage noticed after the August earthquake could also feasibly be attributed to the earthquake that occurred five weeks earlier.

A further shock of magnitude 6.0 occurred on December 2, with its own set of aftershocks. Its epicentre was located about 30 km to the south of the June 24 epicentre and 20 km to the south of the August 1 event. A small number of chimneys were brought down to the east of Masterton and several in Wellington.

1Hayes, R. C. 1942. Dominion Observatory [New Zealand] Bulletin S66