It's been 90 years since a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Hawke's Bay, killing 247 people and badly damaging or destroying buildings along the east coast. Photo / Earle Denford, File
It's been 90 years since a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Hawke's Bay, killing 247 people and badly damaging or destroying buildings along the east coast. Photo / Earle Denford, File
For Christine Clement, the 247 people who died in the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake are more than just names on a plaque.
The Te Puke-based genealogist spent more than a year researching and collating an official list of those who died in the quake.
"I have always been interested inNew Zealand disasters and tragedies and was always aware that there were discrepancies with the total from the Hawke's Bay earthquake," she explained.
Estimates in the immediate aftermath of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake put the death toll at about 350 people - this was downgraded to 260 in the official toll given on March 31, 1931, but figures have continued to change.
"The figure was pretty much right but how they got there I have no idea. It's always been a real mess."
From double-ups to incorrect spelling to people who died the day before the earthquake and those who didn't die at all, the record varied wildly.
Christine Clement, of Te Puke, spent close to one year researching and collating a more accurate list of all the names of the people who died in the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. Photo / Supplied
In 2018, she was given a grant to investigate the deaths from the earthquake.
She started the mammoth task by collecting as many names from different sources as she could - this included newspaper reports, books, family trees, cemetery records, burial and sextons records, memorials and official Police and Health Department files from Archives.
Clement also checked what research others had done and bought numerous death certificates from the time of the quake.
These death certificates were looked over by medical professionals to confirm if the death was the result of the earthquake, resulting in a final figure of 247 deaths.
The majority of these people, 222, died the day of the quake while another 17 passed at makeshift hospitals around the region between February 4 and February 18, 1931, and another four died between March 1 and March 31, 1931.
A further four deaths in 1933, 1935, 1936, and 1944 related to paralysis caused by the earthquake.
Reported figures about how many people actually died in the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake varied wildly over the years. Photo / Earle Denford, File
She said it was "emotionally challenging" work at times.
"It's quite harrowing."
Clement profiled each of the quake victims, detailing their age, occupation, place of death and where they were buried.
The case which still frustrates her is that of Napier's "Jane Doe", an unidentified woman in her 70s who died at the temporary Racecourse Casualty Hospital.
"The scary one is the woman who's never been identified. It's quite sad.
"I would say she's a spinster because there's no mention of any jewellery."
Despite news moving more slowly in those days, Clement was sure there must be someone who was missing this woman and wondering what had happened.
"New Zealand was bloody small in those days. That's why the Jane Doe gets me."
A fireman walks through the rubble after the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. Photo / File
Clement speculated she may have been a washerwoman mentioned in relation to a Bluff Hill woman's death but never named.
There's other mysteries too, such as the very wealthy 60-year-old spinster and where all her money came from.
"For a lot of people it's the Napier earthquake but it was really the Hawke's Bay earthquake.
"Many people do not realise that the damage stretched from Wairoa to Waipawa."
* Two public events will be held to commemorate the anniversary on Wednesday, February 3. A Hastings District Council event will be held near the city's clock tower at 10.30am and the Napier City Council's event will be held at the HMS Veronica Sunbay Memorial near the Soundshell on Marine Parade from 10.30am.
* Local historian Michael Fowler will be giving a talk about Napier's and Hastings' contrasting responses to the earthquake at the Havelock North Conference Centre from 7pm to 8.30pm on Wednesday. Tickets, which cost $15, are available only with cash from Wardini Books Havelock North or Napier, though there will also be cash door sales.
