This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience.(February 2017) |
This is a list of significant earthquakes recorded in Australia and its territories. The currency used is the Australian dollar (A$) unless noted otherwise.
State(s) | Location | Date | M | Type | MMI | Deaths | Injuries | Total damage / notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victoria | Offshore Cape Schanck | 1855-09-17 | UK | Minor damage in Melbourne and surroundings. | [1] [2] | ||||
Queensland | Gayndah | 1883-08-28 | 5.9 | Caused major damage in the Gayndah region. | [3] | ||||
Victoria | Cape Liptrap | 1885-07-02 | 5.7 | Felt throughout Victoria, including Melbourne and Geelong. Minor damage around epicentre. | |||||
New South Wales/ACT | Yass | 1886-11-15 | 5.5 | Damage caused in Yass, felt strongly in Queanbeyan. | [4] | ||||
South Australia | Beachport – Robe | 1897-05-10 | 6.5 | UK | IX | 50 | [5] [6] | ||
South Australia | Warooka | 1902-09-19 | 6.0 | 2 | Significant damage to the township of Warooka. 2 deaths caused by heart attacks from the shock. | [7] | |||
Victoria | Warrnambool | 1903-07-14 | 5.3 | Damage in Warrnambool | |||||
Victoria | Alpine National Park | 1904-04-10 | 5.0 | Felt throughout North East Victoria and Southern New South Wales, but not in Melbourne. | |||||
New South Wales | Newcastle | 1906-05-16 | UK | Damage in the suburb of The Hill. Ruptured water mains. Caused some cliff erosion | [8] [9] | ||||
New South Wales | Taree – Newcastle | 1916-06-11 | UK | Damage to the Seal Rocks lighthouse. Caused alarm along the Mid-North Coast. | [10] | ||||
Queensland | Bundaberg – Rockhampton | 1918-06-07 | 6.0 | Offshore. Caused "serious damage" to Rockhampton, Bundaberg and Gladstone. | [11] | ||||
Victoria | Offshore Ocean Grove | 1922-04-10 | 5.7 | Chimney collapse in Glen Iris. Objects thrown from shelves in Cranbourne, Malvern East, Pakenham and Portarlington. Felt as far north as Ivanhoe, as far west as Warrnambool and as far south as Burnie, Tasmania. A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck a few kilometres east of this earthquake back on the morning of 1 March 1922, which was felt throughout Melbourne, knocking picture frames off a wall in Cowes. | |||||
New South Wales | Newcastle | 1925-12-18 | 5.3 | Damage and panic in Hunter Street (particularly at the Theatre Royal). | [12] | ||||
Tasmania | North East Tasmania | 1929-12-29 | 5.6 | Significant damage in Launceston, Tasmania; felt across Western Tasmania from Burnie to Hobart. | [13] [14] | ||||
Victoria | Mornington | 1932-09-03 | 4.5 | Felt widely in Melbourne, Geelong, Mornington Peninsula, Westernport Bay and Gippsland. Minor damage. Largest earthquake along the infamous Selwyn Fault since the 5.5 magnitude quake of 1855, which occurred a few kilometres offshore of Cape Schanck. | |||||
New South Wales | Gunning | 1934-11-15 | 5.6 | Damaged a majority of the buildings in Gunning. Felt strongly in Canberra. | [4] | ||||
Queensland | Gayndah | 1935-04-12 | 5.4 | Caused considerable damage to the town of Gayndah. One fatality. [15] | [16] | ||||
Western Australia | Meeberrie | 1941-04-29 | 6.3 | Severe shaking, burst water tanks and cracked ground at Meeberrie homestead. Minor damage reported in Perth, 500 kilometres (311 mi) away. Formerly rated strongest onshore earthquake recorded in Australia (7.2), it has since been rated at 6.3. [17] | [18] | ||||
Victoria / Tasmania | Bass Strait | 1946-09-15 | 6.2 | Minor damage reported in Tasmania from Burnie to Huonville, and in Gippsland, Victoria. Offshore earthquake | [19] [20] [21] | ||||
New South Wales | Dalton and Gunning | 1949-03-10 | 5.5 | Significant damage in Dalton and Gunning; minor cracks in some buildings in Canberra. Felt from Sydney in the north to Narooma and Cooma in the south. | [4] [22] | ||||
South Australia | Adelaide | 1954-03-01 | 5.5 | VIII | Damage totaling $90 million. Widespread minor damage. Considerable damage to many buildings. | [23] | |||
Western Australia | Gabalong | 1955-08-30 | 5.8 | Felt in Perth. Epicentre near Gabalong, about 30 km east of Moora and 200 km NNE of Perth | [24] [25] | ||||
Victoria | Cape Otway | 1960-12-25 | 5.3 | No major damage reported. | |||||
New South Wales | Robertson and Bowral | 1961-05-21 | 5.5 | ML | $3.4 million | ||||
Victoria | Mount Hotham | 1966-05-04 | 5.5 | Broken Windows at Mountt Hotham Ski Village. Felt across North-eastern Victoria, Gippsland and South-eastern New South Wales. Not felt in Melbourne. | |||||
Western Australia | Meckering | 1968-10-14 | 6.5 | Mw | IX | 20–28 | $2.2 million | ||
Victoria | Boolarra | 1969-06-20 | 5.3 | 5.0 aftershock two days later. Cracked walls and stacked chimneys in and around epicentral area. Felt in central and eastern Victoria including Geelong, Benalla and Orbost and on Flinders Island. | [26] | ||||
Western Australia | Canning Basin | 1970-03-24 | 6.7 | Little damage due to the remoteness of the area. Part of a sequence of c. 25 quakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater in the Canning Basin area of northern Western Australia between 1970 and 1982. | [27] | ||||
Victoria | Western Port | 1971-07-07 | 5.0 | Minor damage in Cowes, Flinders and Shoreham. Felt throughout Melbourne, Western Port Bay and Gippsland. | |||||
Western Australia | Canning Basin | 1971-07-16 | 6.4 | Part of a sequence of c. 25 quakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater in the Canning Basin area of northern Western Australia between 1970 and 1982 | [27] | ||||
New South Wales | Picton | 1973-03-09 | 5.6 | Damage totaling $2.8 million. Minor damage in Picton, Bowral and Wollongong | [28] | ||||
Western Australia | Canning Basin | 1975-10-03 | 6.2 | Part of a sequence of c. 25 quakes of magnitude 5.0 or greater in the Canning Basin area of northern Western Australia between 1970 and 1982 | [27] | ||||
Victoria | Balliang | 1977-12-02 | 4.7 | 1 | Felt strongly in Geelong and across the suburbs of Melbourne, caused minor damage in the Anakie area. | [29] | |||
Western Australia | Cadoux | 1979-06-02 | 6.1 | 25 buildings in Cadoux were damaged. Damage cost $3.8 million. Perth, 180 kilometres (112 mi) away experienced some swaying of tall buildings but no damage was reported. This was one of the largest onshore earthquakes recorded in Australia. | [30] | ||||
Victoria | Wonnangatta | 1982-11-21 | 5.4 | The epicentre was in the remote Wonnangatta Valley, along the Wonnangatta Fault; it was mostly felt widely in Eastern Victoria and South Eastern New South Wales and throughout Melbourne and its South Eastern suburbs but not in Geelong. | [31] | ||||
Northern Territory | Marryat Creek | 1986-10-30 | 5.9 | Damage was minor, cracked walls observed in DeRose Hill and Victory Downs stations. Felt in Alice Springs 300 kilometres (186 mi) to the north, and Coober Pedy 350 kilometres (217 mi) to the south. | [32] | ||||
Northern Territory | Tennant Creek | 1988-01-22 | 6.7, 6.4, 6.3 | Two buildings and 3 other structures damaged, damage caused to natural gas pipeline. Total damage $2.5 million. Three earthquakes of between 6.3 and 6.7 on the Richter scale. Remarkably caused little damage, despite the intensity of the quake. Felt in high-rise buildings as far away as Perth and Adelaide | [33] [34] | ||||
Northern Territory | Ayers Rock | 1989-05-28 | 5.7 | Minor damage was reported at Yulara resort | [35] | ||||
New South Wales | Newcastle | 1989-12-28 | 5.6 | ML | VIII | 13 | 160 | $4 billion in damage | |
New South Wales | Ellalong | 1994-08-06 | 5.4 | 2 | 1,000 homes and 50 other buildings damaged. Total damage $36 million. | [36] | |||
Victoria | Mount Baw Baw | 1996-09-25 | 5.0 | Thomson Dam region. No major damage | [37] | ||||
South Australia | Burra | 1997-03-05 | 5.0 | No major damage. Felt over a wide area. | |||||
Western Australia | Collier Bay | 1997-08-10 | 6.3 | Mw | No major damage. Felt from Broome to Halls Creek and Kununurra. Strongest earthquake recorded in Australia since the 1988 Tennant Creek earthquake. | ||||
New South Wales | Appin | 1999-03-17 | 4.8 | 65 kilometres (40 mi) southwest of Sydney. Depth only 3.2 km. Felt in Sydney and caused 1000 homes to lose power. | [38] | ||||
Victoria | Boolarra | 2000-08-29 | 5.0 | Caused minor damage. Felt strongly throughout Gippsland and South Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne. | |||||
Victoria | Swan Hill | 2001-10-27 | 4.8 | Felt in Swan Hill near VIC–NSW border, Minor damage including fallen chimneys and fallen shelve items. Power disruptions. | |||||
Tasmania | Macquarie Island | 2004-12-24 | 8.1 | Felt in Tasmania | |||||
Western Australia | Kalgoorlie | 2010-04-20 | 5.2 | Mw | V | 2 | Buildings damaged | ||
Victoria | Gippsland | 2012-06-19 | 5.4 | ML | V | Minor | [39] | ||
Queensland | Coral Sea | 2015-07-30 | 5.5 | Mw | V | Slight building damage | [40] | ||
Northern Territory | MacDonnell Region | 2016-05-20 | 6.0 | Mw | VIII | [41] | |||
Queensland | Bowen-Townsville | 2016-08-18 | 5.8 | North Queensland was rocked by 5.8 magnitude earthquake, 124 km southeast of Townsville. The quake struck at 3.31pm, about 130 km south of Townsville, 60 km west of Bowen and 10 km below the earth's surface. | |||||
Victoria/New South Wales/Tasmania/South Australia | Mansfield | 2021-09-22 | 5.9 | Mw | VII | 1 | Building and other damage in Melbourne and Eastern Victoria. The main earthquake was followed by aftershocks – a magnitude 3.5 quake at 9:24am, a 4.1 quake at 9:33am, a 2.5 quake at 9:47am and a 3.1 quake at 9:54am. | [42] [43] | |
Victoria/South Australia/New South Wales | Murrayville | 2021-10-08 | 4.9 | V | Felt in Murrayville. | [44] | |||
Western Australia | Marble Bar | 2021-11-13 | 5.3 | VI | Moderate shaking felt around the epicentre and nearby areas. Reports of houses abruptly shaking after an initial vibrating noise. | [45] | |||
Western Australia | Arthur River | 2022-01-25 | 4.7/4.8 | mb | V | Minor damage to buildings in nearby Wagin. Reports of moderate shaking felt around the epicentre and nearby areas. | [46] [47] | ||
Victoria | Sunbury | 2023-05-28 | 4.0 | ML | VI | Moderate shaking felt around the epicentre and nearby areas. Houses were abruptly shaking, residents awoke after an initial vibrating noise. The main earthquake was followed by one aftershock of magnitude 2.6 at 11:43 pm | [48] | ||
Victoria | Apollo Bay | 2023-10-22 | 5.0 | ML | VI | Moderate shaking felt around the epicentre and as far as Melbourne. Some buildings in nearby areas and Geelong suffered damage. An aftershock of magnitude 3.5 occurred at 5:44 am. | [49] [50] [51] | ||
New South Wales | 11 km south of Bullaburra | 2024-03-08 8:53pm | 3.5 | MLa | 0 | 0 | Almost 5900 felt reports from Newcastle, out to Bathurst and as far South as Albion Park. The majority was felt in the Sydney basin and the Blue Mountains. | [52] [53] | |
The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability guideline that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described are also applicable to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded. Mw = moment magnitude scale | Ms = surface-wave magnitude | ML = Richter scale | UK = Unknown |
An earthquake – also called a quake, tremor, or temblor – is the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they cannot be felt, to those violent enough to propel objects and people into the air, damage critical infrastructure, and wreak destruction across entire cities. The seismic activity of an area is the frequency, type, and size of earthquakes experienced over a particular time. The seismicity at a particular location in the Earth is the average rate of seismic energy release per unit volume.
Earthquakes are caused by movements within the Earth's crust and uppermost mantle. They range from weak events detectable only by seismometers, to sudden and violent events lasting many minutes which have caused some of the greatest disasters in human history. Below, earthquakes are listed by period, region or country, year, magnitude, cost, fatalities, and number of scientific studies.
The 1998 Papua New Guinea earthquake occurred on July 17 with a moment magnitude of 7.0 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). The event occurred on a reverse fault near the north coast region of Papua New Guinea, 25 kilometers (16 mi) from the coast near Aitape and caused a large submarine landslide which caused a tsunami that hit the coast, killing between at least 2,183 and 2,700 people and injuring thousands.
The Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone (ETSZ), also known as the East Tennessee Seismic Zone and the Southern Appalachian Seismic Zone, is a geographic band stretching from northeastern Alabama to southwestern Virginia that is subject to frequent small earthquakes. The ETSZ is one of the most active earthquake zones in the eastern United States.
This list of 20th-century earthquakes is a list of earthquakes of magnitude 6 and above that occurred in the 20th century. Sone smaller events which nevertheless had a significant impact are also included. After 1900 most earthquakes have some degree of instrumental records and this means that the locations and magnitudes are more reliable than for earlier events.
Earthquakes have occurred in Western Australia (WA) on a regular basis throughout its geological history.
The South West Seismic Zone is a major intraplate earthquake province located in the south west of Western Australia.
A potent magnitude 6.6 Mw intraplate aftershock occurred at 17:16 JST (08:16 UTC) on 11 April, in the Hamadōri region of Fukushima, Japan. With a shallow focus of 13 km (8.1 mi), the earthquake was centred inland about 36 km (22 mi) west of Iwaki, causing widespread strong to locally severe shaking. It was one of many aftershocks to follow the 11 March Tōhoku earthquake, and the strongest to have its epicentre located inland.
The 2011 Lorca earthquake was a moderate 5.1 Mw earthquake that occurred 6:47 p.m. CEST on 11 May 2011, near the town of Lorca, causing significant localized damage in the Region of Murcia, Spain, and panic among locals, and displacing many from their homes. The quake was preceded by a magnitude 4.4 foreshock at 17:05, that inflicted substantial damage to many older structures in the area, including the historical Espolón Tower of Lorca Castle, the Hermitage of San Clemente and the Convent of Virgen de Las Huertas. Three people were killed by a falling cornice. A total of nine deaths have been confirmed, while dozens are reported injured. The earthquake was the worst to hit the region since a 5.0 Mw tremor struck west of Albolote, Granada in 1956.
The 1954 Adelaide earthquake had its epicentre at Darlington, a suburb of the city of Adelaide in South Australia, some 12 km (7.5 mi) to the south of the Adelaide city centre. The quake took place at 3:40 am in the early morning of 1 March 1954 and had a reported magnitude of 5.6. An area of more than 700 km2 sustained an intensity greater than V on the Mercalli intensity scale.
The 1935 Helena earthquake occurred at 22:48:02 MDT on October 18 in Montana, with an epicenter near Helena. It had a magnitude of 6.2 on the surface-wave magnitude scale and a maximum perceived intensity of VIII (Severe) on the Mercalli intensity scale. The temblor on that date was the largest of a series of earthquakes that also included a large aftershock on October 31 of magnitude 6.0 and a maximum intensity of VIII. Two people died in the mainshock and two others died as a result of the October 31 aftershock. Property damage was over $4 million.
An earthquake struck approximately 53 kilometres SSE of the town of Mansfield, in the Victorian Alps of Australia on 22 September 2021, at 09:15 local time. The earthquake measured 5.9 on the moment magnitude scale. The earthquake caused minor structural damage in parts of Melbourne and left one person injured. The earthquake was also felt in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania. The earthquake was substantially stronger than the 1989 Newcastle earthquake that measured 5.6 and killed 13 people.
An earthquake struck approximately 28 kilometres NNW of Melbourne CBD, near the suburb of Sunbury in Victoria, Australia on 28 May 2023, at 23:41 local time (AEST). The earthquake measured 4.0 on the moment magnitude scale. It caused minor structural damage in parts of Melbourne and was felt as far as Tasmania and the Victoria-New South Wales border. Although the earthquake was weaker than the magnitude 5.9 Mansfield earthquake in 2021, this earthquake occurred within metropolitan Melbourne, so it was felt at a similar strength there, albeit for a lesser amount of time.
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