What event measured a 5.6 on the Richter magnitude scale and led to the establishment of the New South Wales Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1?
Urban Search and Rescue New South Wales AUS-2 New South Wales Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1 (or NSWTF/1) was first established as a USAR capability in the lead up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. After earlier large-scale collapses including the 1977 Granville Train Disaster, 1989 Newcastle earthquake and 1997 Thredbo landslide, Fire & Rescue NSW was legislated as the combat authority for responding to major structural collapse incidents within the state of New South Wales.
1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami The 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami occurred on , following an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI ("Extreme"). The earthquake took place on the Fairweather Fault and triggered a rockslide of 30 million cubic metres (40 million cubic yards, and about 90 million tons) to fall from several hundred metres into the narrow inlet of Lituya Bay, Alaska. The impact was heard 50 mi away, and the sudden displacement of water resulted in a megatsunami that washed out trees to a maximum altitude of 520 m at the entrance of Gilbert Inlet. This is the most significant megatsunami and the largest known in modern times. The event forced a re-evaluation of large wave events, and recognition of impact, rockfall and landslide events as a previously unknown cause of very large waves.