Earthquake!

Television (Full Length) – 2006

The Hawke's Bay earthquake still ranks as New Zealand’s worst civil disaster. More than 250 people died following the 7.8 magnitude quake on 3 February 1931. Director Gaylene Preston (miniseries Hope and Wire) gathered eyewitness accounts from survivors, including kuia Hana Lyola Cotter, who has never forgotten joining the rescue effort as a teen. The documentary also includes eye-opening newsreel footage of the damage. Earthquake! was nominated for Best Popular Documentary at the 2006 Qantas Television Awards; the sound team took away gongs at that year's NZ Screen Awards.

We didn’t realise what really it was like till we got there. Oh gosh, we thought it was the end of the world.
– Hana Lyola Cotter recalls the scene, after arriving in Napier the day after the quake