Hastings St in Napier laid to waste in the wake of the 1931 quake.
Feilding, February 6, 1931: “Oh Grace, my dear girl, what a change has taken place since I began this letter a few days ago . I refer to the mighty earthquake which according to reports from Kew, London; India, Egypt, etc., it must have shaken the world!” Albert Svendsen, avid early radio enthusiast and partner in the Feilding electrical firm of McLeod and Svendsen, was writing to Grace Meek, the Edinburgh girl he had fallen in love with during a recent trip to Scotland. He described for her everything that happened on that fateful morning, February 3. He’d been, as usual, at work.