The Hawke's Bay earthquake, also known as the Napier earthquake, occurred in New Zealand at 10:47 am on Tuesday February 3, 1931, killing 256 and devastating the Hawke's Bay region. Centred 15 km north of Napier, it lasted for two and a half minutes and was estimated to have measured about 7.8 on the Richter scale, and 7.9 on the modern Richter Scale. The earthquake struck with a massive upthrust, and half a minute later came a huge resettling.