1989 Newcastle earthquake

Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox earthquake The 1989 Newcastle earthquake was an intraplate earthquake that occurred in Newcastle, New South Wales, on Thursday 28 December.<ref name="NCC">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The shock measured 5.6 on the Richter scale and was one of Australia's most serious natural disasters, killing 13 people and injuring more than 160. The damage bill has been estimated at A$4 billion (or $Template:Inflation billion in Template:Inflation/year, adjusted for inflation), including an insured loss of about $1 billion (or $Template:Inflation billion in Template:Inflation/year, adjusted for inflation).<ref name="NCC"/>

The effects were felt over an area of around Template:Convert in the state of New South Wales, with isolated reports of movement in areas up to Template:Convert from Newcastle.<ref name="NCC"/> Damage to buildings and facilities was reported over an area of Template:Convert.

Death toll and damage to buildings

The highest death toll and damage occurred at the Newcastle Workers Club, where the floor collapsed. Nine people were killed and many more were trapped beneath the rubble.<ref name="NCC"/> Another three people were crushed to death when masonry from building façades collapsed onto awnings on Beaumont Street, Hamilton, an inner-city suburb of Newcastle. Following the death of a woman in Broadmeadow from earthquake-related shock, the final death toll was raised to 13.<ref name="NCC"/>

The earthquake caused damage to over 35,000 homes, 147 schools, and 3,000 commercial and/or other buildings, with significant damage (i.e. damage worth over $1,000; $Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation/year adjusted for inflation) caused to 10,000 homes and 42 schools (structural damage), within the immediate Newcastle area.

The number of people in the city on the day of the earthquake was lower than usual, due to a strike by local bus drivers. The earthquake struck in the middle of an interview by a local television station NBN with a union representative. <ref>Newcastle Earthquake Thursday 28 December 1989. Unedited News Film of Actual Earthquake recorded at Hamilton Bus Depot and close vicinity prior to, during, and after the Earthquake. University of Newcastle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USWWIf3uG4E&si=Igz9R-tin27FWKkL</ref>

Statistics

File:1989 Newcastle earthquake map.png

Intensity map for the event

• Deaths: 13 total, including;
  • 9 people who were killed at the Newcastle Workers Club
  • 3 people who were killed in Beaumont Street, Hamilton
  • 1 person who died of earthquake-induced shock

The names of all 13 victims were published later in newspapers such as the Maitland Mercury<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Injuries: 160 people were hospitalised.
• Damaged buildings: 50,000 buildings were damaged; about 80 percent of these were homes.
• Demolition: 300 buildings were demolished including more than 100 homes, The Newcastle Workers Club, The Century Theatre, and King's Hall.
• Human effects: 300,000 people were affected and 1,000 made homeless.
• Cost: The total financial cost of the earthquake is estimated to have amounted to about $4  billion.
• Felt area: Estimated Template:Convert around the epicentre.
• Magnitude: 5.6 Template:M; 5.4 Template:M; VIII MMI<ref name=NGDC>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Epicentre: Boolaroo
• Aftershocks: One aftershock (M 2.1 on the Richter scale) was recorded on 29 December 1989.<ref name="NCC"/>

Cause

In early 2007, a United States academic claimed that coal mining in the region triggered the earthquake, although earthquake activity has been present in the area at least since European settlement first occurred.<ref name=ABC>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> That is in addition to the statement by the former head of the earthquake monitoring group at Geoscience Australia, Dr David Denham, that the Newcastle earthquake occurred some distance from mining activity:

"The depths of the focus of the earthquake was about 13, 14 kilometres, whereas the ones associated with mining, they're actually right close to the mine, because that's where the stress release takes place."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Despite records of previous earthquakes in the area, even the most recent construction codes in Newcastle at the time of the earthquake (issued in 1979) required neither the adoption of earthquake-resistant design nor the strengthening of old buildings, although they did encourage owners to provide more than the minimum strength.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In popular culture

Music

Songs about the Newcastle earthquake include:

• "10:27"/"Holocaust" by the Lost Boys (1990).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• "Earthquakin'", recorded in January 1990 by Newcastle Ska band the Porkers.
• "Faultline" by Australian rock band Silverchair, from 1995.
• "Our Town" by Wilson and Lightfoot<ref>Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• "The Newcastle Earthquake" by Gary Shearston (1990) CBS 655720<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Literature

• The Newcastle Earthquake Response Record – Volume 1 Prepared by Lt. Col. J.T Purser on behalf of the City of Newcastle (1990) Template:ISBN<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• The Earth was Raised Up in Waves Like the Sea: Earthquake Tremors Felt in the Hunter Valley Since White Settlement by Cynthia Hunter (1991) Template:ISBN<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• What Came Between by Patrick Cullens features a collection of stories, that begin with the earthquake.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (2009) Template:ISBN

• Quakeshake: A Child's Experience of the Newcastle Earthquake by Dave O'Brien Template:ISBN
• Aftershock by Peter Corris (2014) Template:ISBN
• Disasters in Australia and New Zealand by Scott McKinnon and Margaret Cook – Template:ISBN<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Six Seconds by Alan Sunderland (2021) Template:ISBN<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Other

• Aftershocks, a 1991 play by Paul Brown, is based on interviews with members of the destroyed Newcastle Workers Club.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> A film of the same name was also released in 1998 Template:ISBN<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Newcastle Museum also has a permanent exhibition<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• The earthquake occurs in the Season 2, Episode 6 finale of the Australian and British TV series Frayed, set in Newcastle in 1989.

See also

• List of earthquakes in 1989
• List of earthquakes in Australia

External links

• Geoscience Australia: CCIP Project – Newcastle (Earthquake Risk in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie)