Where was the epicenter of the Newcastle earthquake?

Answer 1

The Newcastle Earthquake occurred at 10:27am on 28 December 1989. Its epicentre was 15 km south-southwest from the city centre, whilst the hypocentre was 12 km underground.

Effects of the Newcastle earthquake were felt throughout central-eastern New South Wales. There were reports of damage to buildings in Scone, Gladstone and Sydney, the latter some 800km away. The shaking was even felt in tall buildings, in places over 5000km away.

Thirteen people were killed, and 35,000 homes, 147 schools and 3,000 other structures in the region collapsed. Most damage, and the highest death toll, occurred at the Newcastle Workers Club when walls and multiple floors collapsed, dropping 300 tonnes of concrete onto the ground-floor car park. Nine people were killed in this one location alone.

Answer 2

Originally, it was proposed that the Newcastle earthquake was caused by the mining in the area. Investigations following the earthquake suggested that it was triggered by 200 years of underground coal mining. Geoscientists from Columbia University claimed that removal of 500 mega tonnes of coal and 2000 mega tonnes of water removed from the ground reactivated a major faultline underneath the Newcastle's coalfields. Removal of millions of tonnes of coal, and the pumping out of water needed in the mining process, created enough stress to reactivate a fault line beneath the Newcastle coal fields.

However, a 2007 report cast doubts on this theory, which came from a US report. Australian geoscientists believe more factors were involved, as evidenced by the fact that minor earthquakes have occurred in the Hunter Valley coal mining region from time to time, and not necessarily close to the coal mining sites. The epicentre of the quake was simply too far underground to have been caused by coal mining alone.

Answer 3

The epicenter of the Newcastle earthquake, which occurred in 1989, was located near the town of Boolaroo in New South Wales, Australia. The quake had a magnitude of 5.6 on the Richter scale and caused significant damage to the city of Newcastle.

Answer 4

== == The Newcastle earthquake struck on 28 December 1989.

Answer 5

The epicentre for the Newcastle earthquake which killed 13 people in 1989 was at Boolaroo, a Newcastle suburb 19 kilometres west of the CBD.

Answer 6

The epicentre of the 1989 Newcastle earthquake was 15 km south-southwest from the city centre, whilst the hypocentre was 12 km underground.

Answer 7

The epicenter was at Boolaroo.