Cee’s Black and White Challenge: The Piper

Good morning from a cool Hastings morning.  Autumn has hit us hard after the storm.

This week Cee at Cee’s Photography has asked for musical instruments, people, sheet music or audio devices for her black and white challenge this week. This was a hard one for me but then I remembered this photo from last year.  I always get goosebumps when I hear a lone piper.  This piper was shot during the ceremony to commemorate the 1931 earthquake.  He walked up the length of Heretaunga Street piping and people just stopped what they were doing to listen.  So it was an eerie silence with just the sounds of the pipes.

Please excuse the graininess. It was taken with my iPhone 5S and then heavily cropped.

 http://ceenphotography.com/2015/03/19/cees-black-white-photo-challenge-music-people-instruments-sheet-music-audio-devices/

Musical Ljubljana

Thanks for visiting.

Remembering the 1931 Earthquake in Hastings

Today is the 83rd anniversary of the Hawke’s Bay Earthquake that devastated the region

Here is some information from http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/historic-earthquakes/page-6

Page 6 – The 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake

Extent of shaking, Hawke’s Bay earthquake, 3 February 1931

Damage to buildings (1st of 3)

Napier in flames (1st of 2)

Fireman in the wreckage

Napier after the 1931 earthquake

Clearing the rubble

The hazards of rescue work

Walking to safety (1st of 2)

Roadside Stories: Hawke’s Bay’s big shake

In 1931, New Zealand’s deadliest earthquake devastated the cities of Napier and Hastings. At least 256 people died in the magnitude 7.8 earthquake – 161 in Napier, 93 in Hastings, and 2 in Wairoa. Many thousands more required medical treatment.

256 or 258?

The official death toll of the Hawke’s Bay earthquake is 256. But there are 258 names on the memorial, and this unofficial number is likely to be correct.

On Tuesday morning, 3 February 1931, at 10.47 a.m., the ground in the Hawke’s Bay region heaved sharply upward and swayed. A deceptive half-minute pause was followed by a downward motion and violent shaking and rocking. In all, the quake spanned two and a half minutes.

Here are some photos from Hastings this morning.

Different speakers, the mayors of both Napier and Hastings, Reverend Numia Tomoana and local historian Michael Fowler.

Pipers coming from different directions.

Some of the few survivors left still alive.

Laying a wreath for those who died.

Replicas of the papers in the aftermath of the disaster.

There are some tragic stories.  One was a baby only 3 weeks old.

A time to reflect on this disaster and remember those lost.  But it is a time of hope and recovery as it has made Hastings and Napier into a beautiful Art Deco centre.