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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-02-24 Daily Xml
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CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (14:53): My question is to the Premier. In light of the New Zealand tragedy and the fact that much of South Australia, including Adelaide, is in an earthquake zone, how well prepared are we, should we experience a major earthquake?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:53): Madam Speaker—

Mr Marshall: You wanted to put a stadium—

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Earthquakes—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Norwood, you are already on a warning. I will give you another warning.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Earthquakes can occur anywhere in Australia and anywhere in South Australia, although some areas have a greater history of earthquake activity such as the Flinders and Mount Lofty Ranges. By world standards, the earthquake risk to Adelaide is low to moderate. Only one earthquake of magnitude 7 or above has been recorded in the last 100 years in the whole of Australia—so that's in the whole of Australia. Since proclamation, almost 175 years ago, Adelaide has only suffered damage three times from earthquakes.

The largest earthquake recorded to date in South Australia measured 6.5 offshore from Beachport in 1897. In 1902 an earthquake of Richter magnitude 6 occurred in the gulf resulting in more damage, with several people dying from heart attack or shock. The most well-known local earthquake is the 1954 Richter magnitude 5.5 earthquake, believed to have had an epicentre near Darlington.

Earthquakes have been identified as one of the 10 hazards of state significance by the State Emergency Management Committee. The State Emergency Management Plan provides for the establishment of hazard leaders for each of these hazards identified by the State Emergency Management Committee. In the case of earthquakes, it is the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure, headed by Jim Hallion.

The role of a hazard leader is to ensure a coordinated state approach to a designated hazard (in this case, earthquakes), including mitigation, response and recovery measures. Under the state Emergency Management Act and State Emergency Management Plan, the State Emergency Centre will be utilised to coordinate the state response. SAPOL exercises overall control for all emergencies, including earthquakes.

The Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure has developed the earthquake hazard plan that has been in operation since 2009—so, it was obviously updated. The plan deals with the effective management of earthquake risk for events with a benchmark of Richter magnitude 5.5. The plan is updated continuously and will obviously take into account lessons learnt from the earthquake that took place in Christchurch on Tuesday.

What we do after each disaster, such as the Christchurch earthquake and Black Saturday in Victoria, is look at how we can learn from experiences elsewhere to make sure that we are even more vigilant and even better in recovery processes. Honourable members will be aware of the substantial changes in the approaches of the CFS to bushfire management that came out of the royal commission into the Black Saturday bushfire in Victoria.

The plan is updated continuously. State monitoring stations are scattered around, with most transmitting to PIRSA at Glenside. They are backed up by a number of commonwealth stations that transmit to Canberra, including a monitoring station in Government House that transmits back to Canberra by mobile phone. A substantial earthquake in metropolitan Adelaide is an automatic signal for full activation of the State Emergency Centre. Support plans, functional service plans and, if necessary, national support plans would also be activated.

South Australia was the first state to have requirements for designing buildings for earthquakes back in the mid-1970s, prior to any Australian standard for earthquake design. The first Australian standard for earthquake design was released in 1979 and subsequently adopted in 1983 into the South Australian building regulations at the time, replacing the previous requirements. So this is an area where South Australia has led.

Since then, the design of new buildings for earthquake has been part of the building rules in South Australia. The latest Australian standard requires new buildings in Adelaide to be built to a higher standard than applies in other capital cities around Australia, which is appropriate to the geology of our region. So we have tougher standards to deal with earthquakes.

Considerable work has also been undertaken in planning for the unlikely event of a loss of a significant number of houses, and short and longer term housing options for thousands of people are being developed. Large venues have been identified for relief and recovery centres that would accommodate thousands of people. The Keeping Safe in Emergencies Guide, that includes earthquake, has been distributed to 50,000 vulnerable people.

The State Emergency Information Call Centre Capability, which can link through to the National Emergency Call Centre Capability if the state capacity is overwhelmed, has been established and the volunteer registration system has been upgraded to improve functionality and capability.

As a result of the recent floods and cyclone in Queensland, the Department Families and Communities has undertaken training of additional staff from across government who are now capable of undertaking recovery roles.

All South Australian hospitals have an emergency response plan in place that would be activated in the event of an earthquake. SA Health is improving measures in relation to ensuring supply of potable water, electricity and other essential services.

Madam Speaker, here we come to the nub of the interjection by the member for Norwood. Despite much speculation, I am advised that the new Royal Adelaide Hospital is not being built on a fault line. I have been advised that the Para fault runs further west of the CBD, but there is not a fault line under the proposed hospital itself, and extensive testing has been done to ensure that there are not any splinter faults underneath the site. Interesting! Wrong, again. Absolutely irresponsible, even though that is where they wanted to build a stadium for 50,000 people.

SA Health's Major Projects Office has worked with government and independent seismology and geotechnical experts to determine the specifications required to enable the new RAH to withstand a significant earthquake of the type that could happen in Adelaide. The hospital will be able to stand and continue functioning as the state's major trauma facility in the case of an earthquake. I will repeat that point for emphasis: the hospital will be able to stand and continue functioning as the state's major trauma facility in the case of an earthquake.

The newer buildings at the current Royal Adelaide Hospital were built to much lower specifications, and, while they would be unlikely to collapse, they would not be functional in the aftermath of an earthquake. So, compare the standards for earthquakes for the new hospital to the old one.

The new RAH will be able to generate its own power and store water on site to enable it to operate for 48 hours before initial remediation could start, so there would be no break in service for patients in the hospital or the casualties who would need to be treated. The state government—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —is continuing to undertake various activities to reduce our risks to our communities from earthquakes, and these include—and I am pleased that the honourable member for Fisher asked this responsible question. I presume that, on this issue, given the tragedy across the Tasman, members opposite would actually like to listen. These include:

maintaining an urban search and rescue capability across the MFS, CFS, SES, the State Ambulance Service and SA Health. Two major training exercises have been held and over 100 persons have been trained to date;

an ongoing program of strengthening government buildings for earthquakes. A recent example was earthquake strengthening incorporated into the recent development of the old stock exchange building, which has been transformed as the headquarters for the Royal Institute of Australia;

an ongoing program of dam upgrades by SA Water;

bridge upgrades by the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure. The bridge at Port Augusta over the Spencer Gulf was strengthened last year; and

an upgrade of the local Earthquake Monitoring Network by PIRSA.

The government and South Australians are learning some important lessons from the recent devastating earthquake suffered in Christchurch and taking note of what to do in the event of a major quake here. Indeed, following the September 2010 earthquake in Christchurch, the Emergency Management Council met and discussed what lessons could be learned in terms of response should such an event occur in Adelaide. So, we had a special meeting after the September Christchurch earthquake to take into account what we could learn from that, and we will do the same again with the current tragedy across the Tasman.

The state government takes its emergency preparedness, response and recovery responsibilities for all hazards seriously, but it is vital that the wider community is prepared for emergencies also. At the COAG meeting held just two weeks ago, all leaders signed up to the updated National Disaster Resilience Strategy. Importantly, this strategy identified that we all have a responsibility to be prepared for emergency. This includes the state government, councils, business, households and individuals, because, ultimately, the way in which a community prepares and responds will determine how well it will recover.

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