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Earthquake risk in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie

Created 17/10/2025

Updated 17/10/2025

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In addition to the devastating 1989 Newcastle earthquake, at least four other earthquakes of magnitude 5 or greater have occurred in the surrounding Hunter region since European settlement in 1804. Some of these earthquakes caused damage in areas that, at the time, were sparsely populated. Similar events, were they to occur today in populated areas, would certainly cause significant damage. The frequency with which these events have occurred in the Hunter region suggests that earthquakes pose a genuine threat to the communities there. This study presents the most comprehensive and advanced earthquake risk assessment undertaken for any Australian city to date. It has focused on the economic losses caused by damage to buildings from earthquake ground shaking, and not on the impacts from other, secondary hazards such as soil liquefaction and surface faulting. The study has adopted a probabilistic approach that makes allowances for the variability that is inherent in natural processes as well as the uncertainty in our knowledge. The results from this project will assist decision-makers involved in local and state government, policy development, the insurance industry, engineers, architects, and the building and finance industries to manage potential damage and loss of life from earthquakes in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. The results also have implications for the earthquake risk facing larger Australian cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. This is due to a number of factors, including similarities between the earthquake hazard in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and other parts of Australia, and similarities between the urban environments, particularly the composition of the building stock.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title Earthquake risk in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/en/dataset/0707e4fb-e4e6-41d7-b083-94ca661a29c9
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        151.45,
        -33.2
      ],
      [
        151.81,
        -33.2
      ],
      [
        151.81,
        -32.75
      ],
      [
        151.45,
        -32.75
      ],
      [
        151.45,
        -33.2
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Earthquake risk in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/earthquake-risk-in-newcastle-and-lake-macquarie