CQ tsunami a possibility

Cr Bill Ludwig believes the Capricorn Coast could bit hit by a tsunami generated from an earthquake in the Pacific Ocean.

Chris Ison

THE recent wrath of Mother Nature has a lot of people asking “what's next”. And with an earthquake registering off the coast of Innisfail, the threat of a tsunami to the Central Queensland coast has become a lot more real.

But tsunami expert, Professor James Goff says we can “rest easy”, although nothing is certain.

“The interesting thing with the Great Barrier Reef is it acts as a very effective wall and takes a lot of punishment from events such as cyclones,” Professor Goff from the Australian Tsunami Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, said.

He said nearby sources that might cause a tsunami were far enough away that “heavy traffic” on the way to the Australian coastline would slow the wave down.

However, he pointed out that there was very little certainty in predicting tsunamis.

“We actually don't know how bad they could be.”

Professor Goff pointed out that recent footage from Japan highlighted the danger of a tsunami and urged people to heed warnings.

Dr Jane Sexton, of the Natural Hazard Impacts Project at Geoscience Australia, agreed the Australian coastline was much less susceptible to the threat of a tsunami than countries like Japan.

“Subduction zones off Australia are a lot further away from Australia,” she said.

“It'd have to be a big earthquake to send tsunami our way.”

Dr Sexton said Australia had many earthquakes and most were very small. She said while some areas were considered “hot spots”, it was difficult to predict whether Central Queensland would be susceptible to a quake.

Rockhampton Regional Councillor Bill Ludwig agreed that it was important for residents to listen to any warnings.

“I would certainly be backing up the professor's call for people to always exercise extreme caution if there was a tsunami warning.”

He said people shouldn't take Mother Nature for granted with no certainties of how tsunamis would form.