Monday, December 28, 2009

Newcastle earthquake 20th anniversary

At 10:27 am on this day in 1989, Australia's first recorded deadly earthquake occurred in Newcastle, New South Wales. Thirteen people were killed (nine in the Newcastle Workers Club) and more than 100 injured in the 5.6 Richter quake. Fifty thousand buildings were damaged, approximately 40,000 of which were homes.

Your almanackist felt the earth move at Randwick, a suburb of Sydney about 290 km (180 mi) from Newcastle, at the very same moment he was writing a letter to a mate in San Francisco referring to the October 17 Loma Prieta earthquake in that friend’s neck of the woods.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Matthew Gain said...

I too felt the earthquake, though perhaps a little more intensely than you being in Newcastle at the time. Instead of writing a letter I was jumping on my trampoline - one of the more apt places to ride the shaking out in my mind.

Nice post.

11:32 PM  

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