1989 Newcastle earthquake

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. 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.

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; $ in 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.

Statistics

• 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
• 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 800 km around the epicentre.
• Magnitude: 5.6 ; 5.4 ; VIII MMI
• Epicentre: Boolaroo
• Aftershocks: One aftershock (M 2.1 on the Richter scale) was recorded on 29 December 1989.

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. 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:

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.

In popular culture

Music

Songs about the Newcastle earthquake include:

• "10:27"/"Holocaust" by the Lost Boys (1990).
• "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
• "The Newcastle Earthquake" by Gary Shearston (1990) CBS 655720

Literature

• The Newcastle Earthquake Response Record – Volume 1 Prepared by Lt. Col. J.T Purser on behalf of the City of Newcastle (1990)
• The Earth was Raised Up in Waves Like the Sea: Earthquake Tremors Felt in the Hunter Valley Since White Settlement by Cynthia Hunter (1991)
• What Came Between by Patrick Cullens features a collection of stories, that begin with the earthquake. (2009)
• Quakeshake: A Child's Experience of the Newcastle Earthquake by Dave O'Brien
• Aftershock by Peter Corris (2014)
• Disasters in Australia and New Zealand by Scott McKinnon and Margaret Cook –
• Six Seconds by Alan Sunderland (2021)

Other

• Aftershocks, a 1991 play by Paul Brown, is based on interviews with members of the destroyed Newcastle Workers Club. A film of the same name was also released in 1998
• Newcastle Museum also has a permanent exhibition
• The earthquake occurs in the Season 2, Episode 6 finale of the Australian and British TV series Frayed, set in Newcastle in 1989.

References

References

1. "Earthquake". Newcastle City Council.
2. 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
3. (22 December 2014). "Newcastle earthquake: 25 years on | Photos".
4. National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS): NCEI/WDS Global Significant Earthquake Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. (1972). "Significant Earthquake Information". NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.
5. (9 January 2007). "Mining triggered Newcastle quake, says US academic". ABC News.
6. "Earthquake Factsheets – Newcastle". [[Geoscience Australia]].
7. (9 January 2007). "Australian experts reject Newcastle quake claims". ABC News.
8. (22 June 2004). "Earthquake History, Regional Seismicity and the 1989 Newcastle Earthquake". Geoscience Australia.
9. "NewcastleBandsDatabase – The Lost Boys".
10. "Newcastle Earthquake Song By Wilson and Lightfoot – Our Town".
11. "NewcastleBandsDatabase -".
12. "Gary Shearston – Discography".
13. (1990). "The Newcastle Earthquake Response Record". Newcastle City Council.
14. (1991). "The earth was raised up in waves like the sea: Earthquake tremors felt in the Hunter Valley since white settlement". Hunter House Publications.
15. (9 April 2011). "What Came Between (Book)".
16. (2020). "Disasters in Australia and New Zealand". Palgrave Macmillan.
17. Cronshaw, Damon. (26 April 2021). "Author Alan Sunderland has published Six Seconds, a children's book about the Newcastle earthquake". The Newcastle Herald.
18. "Aftershocks". australianplays.org.
19. "AFTERSHOCKS – Ronin Films – Educational DVD Sales".
20. "Newcastle Museum Permanent Exhibitions – Newcastle Museum".