A killer earthquake occurred in Australia without warning at 10.27 am on 28 December 1989, smashing into the city of Newcastle. Although it was only a moderate earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.6 on the Richter scale, the shock waves were felt up to 800 kilometres away, across more than one-quarter of New South Wales. In Sydney, 160 kilometres to the south, there were reports of house wall cracks and computer screens trembling in city skyscrapers. The Newcastle Earthquake was the first earthquake since European settlement in Australia to cause fatalities. There were 13 deaths. Nine people were crushed when a large section of the Newcastle Workers Club collapsed, three were killed when shop fronts collapsed in Beaumont Street, and one person died from shock. More than 160 people were injured. The loss of life could have been much greater if the earthquake had struck during school term and not the Christmas holidays. More than 40 schools suffered structural damage, some so badly that they had to be demolished. More than 50 000 buildings were moderately to seriously damaged. The total cost of damage was more than 1.5 billion dollars, and the event caused the largest insured loss due to disasters in Australian history. There was unusually extensive damage for such a relatively small magnitude earthquake. This unusual damage was due to an underlying thin layer of silt and sand, covering a former course of the Hunter River and a swamp. This appeared to magnify the shaking or ground motion. Due to the extent of the damage in such a low seismic risk area, seismic activity is now closely monitored. Since 1994, regulations have required that all buildings must be constructed to resist earthquakes.
