The town was substantially affected by an earthquake on Friday , 24 May 1968 . At 5:24 am , the earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck the town , and many landslides and aftershocks followed . The entire population of around 100 was temporarily evacuated . There were no fatalities in the town , but a woman and her visiting mother were killed when the house they were in , along the Inangahua Junction to Westport road , was crushed by a landslide on the cliffs above their house , while a man died near Greymouth when his car hit a section of road on that suddenly subsided on the run-up to a bridge . Another three died days later when a helicopter surveying downed telephone lines crashed
earthquake on Friday , 24 May 1968
1968 Inangahua earthquake
Inangahua Junction