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.
1946 Vancouver Island earthquake The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake occurred with a moment magnitude of 7.5 that struck Vancouver Island, on the Coast of British Columbia, Canada, at 10:15 a.m. on June 23. The main shock epicenter occurred in the Forbidden Plateau area northwest of Courtenay. While most of the large earthquakes in the Vancouver area occur at tectonic plate boundaries, the 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake was a crustal event. Shaking was felt from Portland, Oregon to Prince Rupert, British Columbia. This is one of the most damaging earthquakes in the history of British Columbia, but damage was restricted because there were no heavily populated areas near the epicentre, where severe shaking occurred.