Qld: Earthquake expert warns governments to have a disaster plan

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Qld: Earthquake expert warns governments to have a disaster plan

By Vera Devai

BRISBANE, Dec 16 AAP - Queensland authorities could not afford to be complacent afterSaturday's Brisbane tremor shook residents from their beds, an earthquake expert saidtoday.

Queensland Seismic Network Operations manager Russell Cuthbertson said statistics pointedto a major earthquake in the state about every 50 years.

The largest in the past 100 years occurred 135km offshore from Gladstone in 1918 andcaused damage to buildings in Rockhampton, Bundaberg and Gladstone.

While Saturday night's tremor, which hit Brisbane's north-west at 11.39pm (AEST), onlyregistered three on the Richter scale, emergency rescue authorities could not ignore thepast, Mr Cuthbertson said.

He said every state government needed a disaster management and recovery plan in placein the event of an earthquake like the one which devastated Newcastle in 1989.

"We should be prepared," Mr Cuthbertson said. "Certainly we have learned lessons fromNewcastle about being prepared."

The director of disaster operations with Queensland's Department of Emergency Services,Wayne Ripper, said the state government did not have a specific plan for earthquakes.

"In Queensland, as in most Australian states, we have an all hazards system ... andwe don't have specific plans," Mr Ripper said.

"What we have plans for is to rescue people if they are trapped and we are not reallyinterested in the cause of it."

Mr Cuthbertson said his team of seismologists, who monitor all fault line activityin Queensland, had been contracted by the state government to develop an alert system.

"When an earthquake occurs we can tell them within an hour the details of that earthquake,where it occurred and what they should be doing to recover from it," Mr Cuthbertson said.

He said small earthquakes like the one on Saturday night occurred about 10 times ayear in Queensland but usually in more sparsely-populated areas.

"The weirdest thing is that this one happened in Brisbane," Mr Cuthbertson said.

"Normally they are inland and in areas where there are only a couple of people, sono-one hears about them."

AAP vd/jhm/was

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