My Mum was in China last week and said my Grandfather (once sat on the Privy Council, knighted by the queen, trained Chinese naval officers during the war and one of the most truely awesome people I know.. yeah im proud!) who expeienced the great Napier Quake was deeply concerned for the people of Sichuan.
China’s Nationalism post quake inspired me to reflect on New Zealand’s worst earthquake on recorded history, the 1931 Napier Earthquake, magnatude 7.9 and my own pride in my people.
Out of a provincial population of 30,000, 161 died in Napier, 93 in Hastings, 14 kilometres away, and two up the coast in the small town of Wairoa.
Something I didnt know was that prisoners were let out of jail to carry patients from the wrecked hospital and were later given full pardons.
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