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Source: ONE News -
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An expert from the University of New South Wales says Australia will face further threats from tsunamis because of an earthquake-prone area off the New Zealand coast.
Dr Dale Dominey-Howes says there has been about 40 earthquakes of various magnitudes in recent history in the area where a major undersea quake off New Zealand's South Island coast sparked tsunami alerts on Wednesday night.
"There's no evidence at the moment to say they are becoming more common, but certainly they are being recorded regularly now because of the amount of high-tech equipment we have in use," Dr Dominey-Howes said.
"The threat to Australia's east coast is real.
"We wouldn't see anything on the scale of the 2004 (Boxing Day) tsunamis that affected Asia unless a comet or meteorite hit.
"But there's potential for quite substantial damage here if there is a powerful earthquake in that area."
Dr Dominey-Howes, who works in UNSW's research centre and is flying to New Zealand on Saturday to join a team of UNSW experts in the region where Wednesday's earthquake struck, is conducting research to better understand tsunamis.
He said tectonic plates moving together under the ocean floor about 160km west of Invercargill were causing the earthquakes.
"It's a very active area and there has been a number of quakes there in recent history," he said.
"We're carrying out research into how we can better protect ourselves from them and better understand how they work."
NSW State Emergency Service remained on high alert as a result of Wednesday night's earthquake, which struck just after 9pm (NZ time).
The initial threat of a large wave hitting the Australian east coast appeared to have passed by 1am (NZ time).
But the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said strong currents could still affect parts of Tasmania, Victoria and NSW.
Residents of Lord Howe island, which is low-lying, also remained on alert on Wednesday night.
