Bob McCombe has survived two major earthquakes, Napier and
Christchurch
Bob McCombe has been through more than his fair share of
earthquakes.
A survivor of the massive 1931 Hawke's Bay quake, the
89-year-old had to relive that terrifying experience on
Saturday when he awoke to find his Christchurch house
creaking and rumbling in the magnitude 7.1 quake.
"It was most frightening. Anyone who goes through that and
says they weren't frightened is either a liar or he doesn't
know what he's talking about," he told The Press newspaper.
It brought back memories of New Zealand's most devastating
natural disaster -- the magnitude 7.8 earthquake which shook
the Hawke's Bay almost 80 years ago, killing 256 people and
flattening parts of the region.
Mr McCombe, then a 10-year-old, had been playing outside with
other pupils at Parkvale Primary School in Hastings when the
quake hit on the morning of February 3, 1931.
"The ground started to shake and water started coming out of
the swimming bath that had just been built. The teacher told
us to get down on the ground and hold on to the grass."
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