1989 Newcastle earthquake
From Freepedia
The 1989 Newcastle earthquake was a magnitude 5.6 earthquake occurring on Thursday 28 December 1989, at 10.27am. This was Australia's most serious natural disaster, killing 13 and injuring more than 160 people. The damage bill is estimated to be around A$4 billion dollars, which includes an insured loss of about A$1 billion.
The effects were felt over an area of around 200,000 square kilometres in the state of New South Wales, with isolated reports of movement in area of up to 800 km from Newcastle. Damage to buildings and facilities are reported within an area of 9000 square kilometres.
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Cause
The Newcastle earthquake was caused by a build up of intra-plate tension in the southern part of the Indo-Australian Plate. The intra-plate tension occurs as heat builds up underneath the continental land mass. The release of this tension resulted an earthquake occuring in a normally earthquake free environment.
Impact
Even though the earthquake itself was only 5 to 6 seconds in length, its impact was felt throughout central-eastern New South Wales. Reports of damage to buildings in Scone, Gladstone and Sydney were reported. The shaking was felt in buildings, mainly tall buildings, in places over 5000km away.
If the earthquake had struck during the evening when 2000 people were expected at a pop concert at the Workers Club, or if it had happened a month later when thousands of students had returned to school, a great many more deaths and injuries would have resulted.
Death toll and damage to buildings
The worst death toll and damage occurred at the Newcastle Workers Club, where 9 people were killed and many more trapped under the rubble. At the Kent Hotel in Beaumont Street, Hamilton, another three died.
The earthquake caused damage to over 35,000 homes, 147 schools, and 3,000 commercial and/or other buildings, with significant damage caused to 10,000 homes (damage worth over $1000) and 42 schools (structural damage), within the immediate Newcastle area.
The worst damage occurred at the Newcastle Workers Club, which was destroyed due to the buildings' location and construction standards. Walls and multiple floors collapsed, sending over 300 tonnes of concrete to the ground-floor car park.
With the reports of damage to buildings in other towns and cities, over 50,000 buildings were damaged. The cost rocketed into the billions, the cost to replace all the damaged footpaths alone was estimated at $2.7 million). Approximately 70,000 insurance claims (64,000 home/contents & 6,000 commercial) were paid in the months following the disaster.
Rebuilding
The city has rebuilt since then, with the Workers Club (now ClubNova Panthers Newcastle) completely rebuilt.
Facts
- Deaths: 13 total, including:
- 9 people died at the Newcastle Workers Club
- 3 persons were killed in Beaumont Street, Hamilton
- one person died of earthquake induced shock
- Injuries: 162 people were hospitalised. There are no records available of other minor injuries.
- Damaged Buildings: 50,000 buildings were damaged. Approximately 40,000 of these were homes.
- Demolition: 300 buildings were demolished and more than one third of these were homes.
- Human Effects: 300,000 persons were affected and 1,000 persons were made homeless.
- Insurance: Over 70,000 insurance claims were received.The total insurance payout in 1996 dollar terms amounted to A$1.02 billion. The total financial cost of the earthquake is estimated to have amounted to about A$4 billion.
- Felt Area: Estimated 200,000 km around the epicentre.
- Richter Magnitude: 5.6
- Epicentre: Boolaroo
- Aftershocks: One aftershock (M 2.1 on the richter scale) was recorded on 29 December 1989
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