BULLETIN
www.jaconline.com.au
Newcastle earthquake
Newcastle, Australia’s sixth biggest city, was hit yesterday
morning by a severe earthquake, measuring 5.6 on the
Richter scale. Over 60 000 buildings — particularly old
structures built prior to 1950 — were damaged, some of
them seriously. The earthquake also killed 13 people and
injured 160 others. Insurance payments are expected to
exceed one billion dollars (though the damages bill is
expected to be four times this amount). It is the first time in
the European history of this country that such a damaging
earthquake has occurred.
Areas within Australia most at risk of earthquakes include
a small region just north-east of Canberra, the coastal
hinterland between Rockhampton and Bundaberg in
Queensland, the Simpson Desert, a small region north-east
of Perth, and a 200-kilometre-wide strip of land extending
south-east from Broome in Western Australia into the heart
of the Great Sandy Desert.
Newspix/Jeff Herbert
29 December 1989, Newcastle
Use this worksheet and the sources referred to in the References below to complete
these activities.
1.
Where do most earthquakes occur? Why is the Newcastle earthquake unusual in this respect?
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2.
Draw simple diagrams in your notebook to describe the different ways in which P waves, S waves and surface
waves move, and the way each type of wave typically affects building structures.
3.
Most of the buildings damaged by the Newcastle earthquake were unreinforced brick structures. Use your answers
to question 2 to suggest why this might have been the case.
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4.
Use the Newcastle Earthquake web link listed below to find our more about this earthquake, and to discover some of
the ways in which the city and its citizens were unprepared for this disaster. What lessons do you think were learnt
from this event?
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References:
SOSE Alive 3, pp. 110–11 ▪ SOSE Alive Geography 2, pp. 14–15 ▪ www.jaconline.com.au/sosealive/sosealive3
(or www.jaconline.com.au/sosealive/sageography2) and click on the Earthquake Animation and Newcastle
Earthquake weblinks
© John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2004
2004-09-Newcastle.pdf
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