Destruction in Napier

At 10.47am on 3 February 1931, a violent shock, followed closely by a second, rocked Hawke’s Bay for almost three minutes. A tanker at sea felt a violent vibration, and the seamen on board looked to the shore to see Napier covered by a cloud of rising dust. The earthquake was felt in most of New Zealand, apart from the Auckland peninsula and Otago. The hands of the clock on the band rotunda in Napier stopped at the time the earthquake struck, 10:47 am.

The first victims of the earthquake were people who ran out to the street and were struck by falling masonry, as the stone decorations on many of the buildings crashed to the ground. Many were killed instantly when buildings collapsed on them, but others were buried in the rubble. Most of the deaths were in the city centres.

https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/hawkes-bay-earthquake/

Natural Damage

The local landscape changed dramatically, with the coastal areas around Napier being lifted by around two metres. The most noticeable land change was uplifting some 40 km2 of sea-bed to become dry land. This included Ahuriri Lagoon which was raised more than 2.7 metres and drained 2230 hectares of the lagoon. Today, this area is the location of Hawkes Bay Airport, housing and industrial developments and farmland. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931_Hawke%27s_Bay_earthquake

Reconstruction 

On 11 March 1931 the government-appointed magistrate J. S. Barton and engineer L. B. Campbell as commissioners for Napier. Together with local committees, they had the daunting task of organising reconstruction. This included restoring water supplies, replacing sewers, and repairing and inspecting houses before they could be reoccupied. Local survey plans and land titles had been destroyed, so all properties were resurveyed, and interim titles were issued.

Few insurance policies covered earthquakes, and many insurers refused to pay for fire damage that resulted from the quake. In 1931 Parliament passed the Hawke’s Bay Earthquake Act, which provided loans for local companies and individuals to rebuild their premises. Because of the economic depression, however, the funds granted were far from adequate, and repayment terms were harsh. Much of the money for recovery came from charity, which poured in during the weeks after the quake