How many earthquakes occur in Australia each year?

Answer 1

Australia has a large number of earthquakes every year, but most of them are deep underground and not noticed except by sensitive seismic equipment. Most cause no damage, but there have been some that have left lasting damage, and even caused deaths.

Times and places where significant earthquakes have occurred in Australia are few, but they include:

• An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit Meeberrie, Western Australia, on 29 April 1941. It left massive cracks in all the walls of Meeberrie homestead.
• On 14 October 1968, the town of Meckering, Western Australia, was hit by an earthquake which registered 6.9 on the Richter scale. No-one was killed, but an estimated $2.2 million worth of damage was caused, and 17 people injured.
• On 22 January 1988, three large earthquakes were felt in Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory. The smallest occurred at 10:06am and registered 6.3 on the Richter Scale, whilst the largest occurred at 9:35pm, registering 6.7.
• Australia's worst earthquake disaster occurred on 28 December 1989 in Newcastle, NSW, when an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale hit, causing massive damage and thirteen deaths.

Answer 2

There have been a number of earthquakes in Australia, but generally they do not cause major damage. Many of them are simply seismic activity many kilometres underground, which do not translate to ground-shaking events on the surface. Melbourne and southeastern Victoria, and the region around Canberra, for example, are hot-spots for deep seismic activity, but no earthquake in the area has caused death or significant destruction.

Although Australia is not on the edge of a plate, the continent experiences earthquakes because the Indo-Australian plate is being pushed north and is colliding with the Eurasian, Philippine and Pacific plates. This causes the build up of stress in the interior of the Indo-Australian plate which is released during earthquakes.

The most devastating earthquake in Australia was the one that hit Newcastle on 28 December 1989. It measured 5.6 on the Richter scale, and its effects were felt throughout central-eastern New South Wales. There were reports of damage to buildings in Scone, Gladstone and Sydney, which is 800km away. The shaking was even felt in tall buildings in cities over 5000km away.

Thirteen people were killed, and 35,000 homes, 147 schools and 3,000 other structures in the region collapsed. Most of the damage and deaths happened when the walls and floors of the Newcastle Workers Club collapsed. Originally, a US report on the earthquake suggested that the disaster was caused by stress resulting from 200 years of underground coal mining. Australian geoscientists disagreed with this claim, claiming that the Hunter Valley has been prone to minor earthquakes for years. Other evidence suggested that the hypocentre of the earthquake lay too deep underground - 12 kilometres - for it to have been caused by mining.

Another earthquake of significance hit Meckering, a small town of some 240 people in the Avon valley region of Western Australia, about 130km east of Perth and 24km west of Cunderdin. In October 1968, the town was hit by an earthquake which registered 6.9 on the Richter scale. There were no deaths, mainly due to the small size of the town and its relative isolation, but the earthquake injured 17 people, and caused about $2.2 million worth of damage, which is the equivalent of around $5 million today. The ground ruptured along a length of 40km, up to 1.5m wide and 2.4m high, and the scar from this rupture can still be seen in the landscape today.

On 29 April 1941 the town of Meeberrie, Western Australia felt what is believed to be Australia's biggest onshore earthquake, at magnitude 7.2. Being little more than a homestead, no details were reported, but effects of the earthquake included cracked walls, burst rainwater tanks and ground ruptures.

On 19 November 1906 a large magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit the Indian ocean off the coast of Western Australia. It is the largest known quake in Australian Territory.

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Answer 3

There have been a small number of notable earthquakes in Australia, but only one has ever caused loss of life. Most earthquakes in Australia occur deep underground and are not felt by the residents many kilometres above the hypocentre.

Times and places where significant earthquakes have occurred in Australia include:

• An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit Meeberrie, Western Australia, on 29 April 1941. It left massive cracks in all the walls of Meeberrie homestead.
• On 14 October 1968, the town of Meckering, Western Australia, was hit by an earthquake which registered 6.9 on the Richter scale. No-one was killed, but an estimated $2.2 million worth of damage was caused, and 17 people injured.
• On 22 January 1988, three large earthquakes were felt in Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory. The smallest occurred at 10:06am and registered 6.3 on the Richter Scale, whilst the largest occurred at 9:35pm, registering 6.7.
• Australia's worst earthquake disaster occurred on 28 December 1989 in Newcastle, NSW, when an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale hit, causing massive damage and thirteen deaths.

Answer 4

Most earthquakes in Australia occur deep underground and are not felt by the residents many kilometres above the hypocentre.

Times and places where significant earthquakes have occurred in Australia include:

• An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit Meeberrie, Western Australia, on 29 April 1941. It left massive cracks in all the walls of Meeberrie homestead.
• On 14 October 1968, the town of Meckering, Western Australia, was hit by an earthquake which registered 6.9 on the Richter scale. No-one was killed, but an estimated $2.2 million worth of damage was caused, and 17 people injured.
• On 22 January 1988, three large earthquakes were felt in Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory. The smallest occurred at 10:06am and registered 6.3 on the Richter Scale, whilst the largest occurred at 9:35pm, registering 6.7.
• Australia's worst earthquake disaster occurred on 28 December 1989 in Newcastle, NSW, when an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale hit, causing massive damage and thirteen deaths.

Answer 5

Australia has been relatively free from major damaging tsunamis, but that does not mean they have not occurred. Recent research from the University of New South Wales has determined that, in the past 130 years, the continent has experienced 145 tsunamis, resulting in 11 deaths. 85 percent of these have been along the eastern coast.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

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