- Marc Knight

I was living in Kingsford in Sydney at the time and our wardrobe door started shaking and then realised whole house was shaking. The power went off and came back on. I turned the radio on and the radio announcer was joking around and asking if the earth moved for you. In a short amount of time we discovered that the club in Newcastle had partially collapsed.

- Gary Bradbury

I was at home in Thornton getting ready to go to work at the mail centre at Broadmeadow. We got the phone call not to go to work as the work area at the mail centre was under water because of broken water pipes caused by the earthquake.

- Alan Mitchell

I was at Dora Creek having a fight with my little brother and when I hit him the whole house shook. I thought I had become SuperWoman. Our parents were in Newcastle at a light fixture shop so they were surrounded by all these lights smashing. They said it was scary. There were a lot of vacant blocks in Hunter Street for a long time afterwards

- Chris Rattenbury

I was working at Steggles at Beresfield. The concrete floor in deboning room was uplifted, just like a surfboard rider in the surf. Then everything went black. Was so scary. Everyone had knives in their hands. Nobody knew at the time what was going on.

- Sharon Wren

I was stopped at Darby's Bakery at Cooks Hill to get an apple turnover before walking into Newcastle. If it wasn't for that we (wife and one-year-old daughter) would have been where the wool shed top brickwork ended up on the pavement.

- Geoff

READ MORE: The Quake, 30 years later: The moment the city shook

I was 8 years old when the earthquake occured. I was at home in Glendale back then when the earthquake struck. I got up to change the channel of the tv and I suddenly felt the house rocking, followed by what I can only be described as a wave through the house. I was standing up only a couple of feet away from the lounge where one of my siblings, who was around two years old at the time, was sitting on the lounge right behind me. As the house shook I lost my balance and landed almost on top of my sibling right near a 6 foot fish tank that was full of water and on a big stand. I turned to watched the tank after I landed and saw the water being pushed by such a strong force that the water rose up and started rushing to the far side of the tank as though it was a mini tsunami wave. In that minute, I thought it was about to tip over and land on us. It didn't. We then lost power and everyone in the neighborhood came rushing out of their houses to see if everyone was okay and what had happened.

- Vanessa Comiskey

I was supposed to work in the bar at the club that night for a big concert. I always felt blessed the quake came in the morning and not the night when a sold-out concert was scheduled. Some beautiful friends I worked with lost their lives in the club. A very, very sad day for many of us. Split Enz was going to play and one of their roadies was killed setting up.

- Lou Payne

My uncle, Don Williams, is the earthquake man. Uncle Don was being interviewed by television news reporters, at the Hamilton Bus Depot, at the exact time the earthquake hit.

- Kimmy Allen

I was 18 and working at the Newcastle Permanent head office next door on the fifth floor. I was on my way to morning tea and in the glass foyer when it hit. I saw the Workers Club collapse before I took off for the stairwell. It was the start of a long battle with anxiety. On the funny side, all the evacuation drills teaching us to calmly collect our belongings and link arms with someone in the stairwell went out the window. I arrived to the traffic island with one shoe on, no personal belongings and a pen in my hand. Sadly I did hear and see way too much that day and realised even at 18 I wasn't invincible.

- Ann Penfold

READ MORE: The Quake, 30 years later: Chaos on King Street

I was working in the deli in Woolworths Mt Hutton. Everything tipped sideways, the trays I was stacking slid off the end of the bench. Made a mess. Stock all over the floor.

- Nicole Louise

I went into Hunter Street on the afternoon of the earthquake and took photos. I'll have to dig them out. It was like a ghost town ...

- Leigh Campbell

I was in K-Mart Kotara with my mum. A day we will never forget as we lost my pop. He was at work at the Workers Club.

- Natti Newtz

I grew up in Newcastle but lived in Cronulla at the time and was at home having a coffee. I felt the tremor and thought there must have been an accident at the refinery at Kurnell. I rang my parents in Newcastle and asked "did you feel anything?" My mum replied that they were picking bits of crockery off the kitchen floor so, yes, they had felt it. It was lucky I rang them when I did as the landline to Newcastle became congested pretty quickly. So lucky my mum had started her holidays as she worked in a terrace building on Darby Street, on the first floor. The brick wall near her desk collapsed during the earthquake.

- Megan Kemmis

I was 9 and going into the movies up at Hoyts with my friend and her dad. Quake hit and everything just shook, we shook and I remember people running out screaming. I asked my friend's dad what was happening and he said he thought it was an earthquake

- Kylie McCoy

READ MORE: The Quake, 30 years later: Beaumont Street

I was in Fairfield with my sister, miles away in Sydney. We were at a pizza cafe and all the stacked boxes come tumbling down. Now that's miles away. My hubby was actually working on a building site in Newcastle at the time. Working in refrigeration. The ladder shook and luckily some one got hold of it. Pretty shaken. A very sad day

- Joyce Darmanin

I was at the waterfront at Belmont with my Nan and brother. I was walking over to Nan and fell over when the ground shook. We thought it was vibrations from the big truck that had just gone past, until we got back to Nan's and everything had fallen over.

- Bec Campbell

I was working in the menswear department at David Jones in Newcastle. The whole building shook and so much dirt fell from the ceiling. Customers ran out of the shop, and then once the ground had settled came back in wanting to be served - but without computers we couldn't.

- Diahann Pritchard

My mum was in town at work when the earthquake happened. She is a nurse and stayed to help the injured who were trapped when the Workers Club collapsed. My sisters and I were at home with dad and we were playing in the lounge room when the earthquake hit. I split my chin open. My mum was a hero this day and still is. She remembers it better than we do

- Catherine Aurelius

I was working as a bank teller at Westpac Mount Druitt. I grabbed the counter and my cash box thinking my chair was giving way, before seeing the shocked looks on customers' and fellow bank staffers' faces and realising it was a tremor. It cracked one of the walls of the building so that was it for work for the day and until building inspectors assessed the structure safety.

- Shaz O'Brien

I had just turned 12 years old and I was at Garden City shops at Kotara, which it was called back in the day. It was such a loud noise. Thought a train was going underneath the shops.

- Janet Martin

READ MORE: The Quake, 30 years later: The heroes amid the rubble

I was in the back of mum and dad's car on Beaumont Street. We were delivering roses to the florist. Drove onto the road from the back of the florist and dad said "holy shit, what was that?" Mum was a bit panicked. We were only young but I still remember the movement of it and how lucky we were considering we were a block away from the Kent. Got home and poor Nan was beside herself being home alone and seeing the news. Scary day.

- Emma Beach

I was visiting my family in Mona Vale. My second child was sleeping upstairs, a baby at the time. I ran upstairs and grabbed him. I felt it there, then came home to Lake Macquarie and found ornaments knocked over. Scary day.

- Vanessa Vallack

I was standing in my bedroom at Redhead up the top of the bluff, hanging on to my bookcase thinking "what is going on". Dad and the neighbours first thought it may have been the mines below collapsing before realising what it really was. Mum was about to go shopping at Charlestown Square. She had parked her car and was walking across the old concrete pedestrian bridge. She said it swung like crazy and thought it was going to fall

- Alison Byron

We were moving into our home that day and my brother-in-law was on the loo when the house moved. I was on the balcony out front. Very odd sensation.

- Sandra Inskip

I was working at the National Library of Australia in Canberra and felt the desk move. It wasn't until I got home that night that I realised it was the shock waves from the Newcastle earthquake.

- Rachel Symons

I was 7 at the time. I was in the car with my family, driving home after visiting relatives. We were stopped at the lights at the intersection of Pacific Highway and Warners Bay Rd and felt the car shake. We had no idea what had happened but realised it was something external to our car when two older ladies got out of the car beside us and walked around looking for some kind of damage to their vehicle. I don't remember the rest of the trip back to Nelson Bay but, presumably we would have been driving through Newcastle and the chaos of emergency services scrambling.

- Jay Middleton

My husband was in the Newcastle Workers Club. I was in the Commonwealth Bank in Hamilton. Both of us were lucky to not lose our lives. I was in the chemist next door on an errand for the bank. The awning collapsed five minutes after I left. My husband was pulling people from the poker machines. It changed our lives sadly.

- Sharon Godwin

I was working at Broadmeadow. Will never forget the noise before the concrete went into waves. We were lucky but it is something you will never forget. Didn't sleep properly for months as any noise made you think here is another one.

- Trish Baker

My mum and I were heading towards the Newcastle Workers club when it hit.

- Katrina Hatch

READ MORE: Disaster relief fund controversy

We were in the Newcastle Permanent at Belmont and thought a car or truck hit the building. Heard the sounds of sirens going up the highway for most of the day

- Lee Saxby

I was working in Watt Street ended up in Pacific Park giving drinks to patients from the hospital as I could not get back to Maitland. Saw the devastation on the bus going home later in the afternoon

- Therese Karpathy

I was working in Merriwa Shire Council offices doing pays between Christmas and New Year. I heard the windows rattle and thought "what was that?". Asked another person also there, "did you hear that?" Carried on working. When I heard about the earthquake I guessed that it was the cause of the windows rattling.

- Sandra Lawford

I was in Beaumont street, Hamilton where the epicentre was. My car was crushed and the building we were working in fell down

- Lyn Molloy

I was in East Maitland. I was supposed to be going to get concert-of-the-decade tickets but overslept. I still have my Pizza Hut sign

- Denise Pausina

I was at home at Mackie Avenue, Lambton. My daughter, who was three, was terrified and ran to me dodging falling shelving. Two houses across the street tumbled down. The poor guy who owned one of them, he had no insurance , it pretty much ruined him. When it hit, it sounded like a freight train under the house. Hope I never hear that sound again.

- Ros Madden

I was working at Pymble PO. Felt nothing but heard ambulance and firies for the rest of the day so headed up to Newy to help out.

- Ross Murdoch

I was working in office at Coca-Cola, Broadmeadow. Thought one of the trucks had crashed into roller doors, then the floor started moving like waves beneath my feet. We had one of our techs working at the Workers Club. He was in the basement getting equipment ready for a concert that night. We couldn't contact him as all communication was down. Luckily he had just left when it happened

- Judith Shoebridge

I had left work well before then. I left in 1988, three weeks before I had Mathew. We were home at the time, he was only 18 months old. I was outside hanging out the washing and heard everything in the house rattling, then a big crash. Then the wave came through. The house swayed and I felt the wave beneath my feet. Little Mathew was inside and things had fallen and smashed. He was crying when I ran in, and I picked him up and ran outside. My dad worked behind the Workers Club at the Public Works and we were worried about him too. He was ok. Certainly a day we will all never forget.

- Julie Stanwell

READ MORE: Do you remember the relief concert?

I had only been living in Newcastle for about one year. I remember being in the shops in Toronto and thinking something had come through the building. Walked out into the boulevarde and thinking it was just so eerie, as everyone was in shock. Got home to find stuff all over the floor.

- Michelle Day

I turned 40 that day I was sitting on a fold-up chair at One Mile Beach Holiday park watching our Ford Fairmont dance

- Lynda Anne Morley

I was on the 4th floor of a 100-year-old sandstone house in Newcastle and boy, oh boy it felt like it swayed in the breeze as I ran down those stairs.

- Anne Maree Irwin

My hubby was in the main street of Wallsend. He felt the massive shake, an awning fell but didn't get him, thank God. He said it felt surreal.

- Michelle Ball

I was at Gorokan shopping centre at work. Sitting with boss and everything shook, lights out. Evacuated shop. Never forget.

- Cheryl Maxwell

I lived in National Park Street, Merewether and was 11 at the time. Our six-foot fish tank was swooshing up the sides, mum was yelling at us to get out of the house. I ran outside and saw the hills at Merewether Heights rumbling, with a dust cloud rolling down. Part of the chemist building on the corner collapsed and power lines came down. I will never forget the ambulances screaming up Stewart Avenue, all seven of them all at once. Very sad day.

- Kristy Handsaker

My friend Tracey Budworth had been op shopping in Beaumont St. They'd been to one and thought they'd go to the one up the top but changed their mind and went to Garden City instead. When they got out of the car Tracey said how awful it would have been with all the concrete in the car park if there was an earthquake. From memory she was in trying clothes on when the earthquake hit.

- Elizabeth Turnbull

I was at Ashfield pool. Didn't feel a thing but my mum felt it in Concord. It nearly knocked her off the kitchen stool.

- Sally Lowe

I was working in Hunter Street. I froze. Scared stiff. Had no idea what was happening. A staff member yelled at me to run. We all ran for the electric glass sliding doors. The carpet was blue and was moving like waves making running impossible. We got to the doors, and with sheer might, opened them with no electricity. We emerged on the footpath to watch the empty building opposite collapse, dust as far as the eye could see and injured people in a daze. A very sad day I will never forget. My thoughts go out to all who lost loved ones.

- Julie Haworth

My nephew got into trouble from his grandad who thought he was jumping up and down on the bed in the caravan they were holidaying in.

- Peggy Tomkins

I was four years old when the '89 earthquake hit and I still can remember that day clearly down to very fine details. We lived up in Maitland.

- Jedd Heitmeyer

I was on a train in Melbourne travelling into the city. The signals went down and the train stopped for half an hour . When I reached my husband's work, I was told that there had been an earthquake in my home town. Disbelief took over, then shock and later on we found out that the shock waves had interrupted the trains here in Melbourne. A day etched in my mind forever and thank goodness for all those mine shafts, which absorbed the shock waves or the result of the quake could have been far more devastating.

- Anne Clutterbuck

I was at work at the Port Kembla Steelworks. There was a bang that could be felt as well as heard, and the whole mill building shook. Everyone thought one of the mill overhead cranes had run into the end stops, but none of the cranes were in use at the time. We later heard the news reports about the earthquake in Newcastle.

- Brad Irwin

I was in the Tweed Heads Mall car park with my then partner helping with his father's courier business. When I heard on the radio of the earthquake. I am born and bred until the age of eight a Novocastrian. My whole family live in Newy. I was so shocked to hear. I immediately tried to contact my dad at home. I spoke to my stepmother, as my dad was at work. She said it was a horrible experience. The power was out but she and her daughter were okay. The boys were in school at The Junction.

- Donna Tranter

I was playing with my ninja turtle toys in the lounge room. I thought I was playing a bit too rough with them once the house started shaking.

- Michael Smith

I was in DJs in Newcastle when the building shook. We were in complete darkness. You could hear all the glasswear and plates smashing on the floor above. I was in the baby section as I was 34 weeks pregnant with my first child and I remember a baby piano in the baby section come crashing down. We were taken out thru the car park and we stood near the building opposite the driveway. A man came up and said "I don't want to alarm you but I wouldn't be standing here". When we looked up, the building was leaning towards the road. We moved quick smart.

- Kel-Lea Edwards

I was at home hanging onto my bunk bed in Weston. My brother was outside washing our car and I remember him telling us everything went quiet (birds etc, we backed onto bush land) before the earthquake hit and the trees and ground started rolling.

- Kellie Smurthwaite

I was at home in Wallsend getting three boys ready to go shopping. The shopping didn't happen that day. At first I thought a truck had hit the house and bolted outside to see if the boys were okay, only to find no truck and a bewildered young girl on a bicycle. I told her to go straight home as it was an earthquake.

- Sharon Townshend

I was working in the Herald classifieds department in Newcastle and speaking to a customer in Beresfield. We all thought it was a bomb or something. I looked out the window to see the building opposite us had collapsed - but the lady on the phone with me said "no I felt it here at Beresfield". We then realised it was an earthquake. We had to evacuate the building in the dark with water pouring through the ceiling. It's a day I will never forget.

- Jacqueline Cullen

I was working at the Royal. My dad's shop was in the Herald ... R F Whutten watchmaker. His shop was in the Hunter shopping village near the Jolly Roger.

- Kelly Stajkowski

I was at work at Belmont Hospital on the third floor The whole hospital shook and the phones and electricity went out. Had to go to generator power. As it was Christmas there was not a lot of patients on our ward.

- Ann O'Brien

I was living in Paris and watching the news on television and did a double take. I turned to my boyfriend (now husband) and said "Newcastle, Newcastle Australia but that's not possible". Little did I know at the time that we would find ourselves living there less than two years later.

- Melissa Rey Lescure

I was in Charlestown Square. Shoppers weren't allowed to get to the cars parked in the covered car park, so we waited outside on the street. Passers by put on their radios trying to work out what had happened. I remember people being distressed because they had family working at BHP and thought there had been an explosion. Within minutes though, we knew it was an earthquake.

- Lyndal Spencer

I was living in St Ives in Sydney ironing my clothes for work and all the windows rattled. I had no idea what it was but within 20 minutes heard sirens - I guess leaving for Newcastle. Turned the television on to see news and saw the newsflash. Tried all morning to contact my family in Newcastle but phone lines were down. Think it was later in the day I reached them. They were all safe but their hotel in Broadmeadow ended up being demolished.

- Nyree Sessions

I was working in Charlestown Square at Oscars records, though we could have been Brashs by then. The whole place shook and we had a lady in the store telling us a plane had hit the building. Then centre management had us all meet out the front of the centre, standing in front of the glass window. I had to drive my co-workers back home and had to go past the Workers Club and saw the makeshift hospital on the lawns. A sad day for this city.

- Jo Fredericks

I was in Northern Canada. About as far away as you could get. I heard it on the news but didn't believe it at first.

- David Voyzey

I was in my mum's room on the four-poster bed watching a kids program - pretty sure it was playschool. I was five. The rest of the story is actually hilarious, but at the time I was terrified. We still have cracks in the house to remind us of that day. I wasn't at all aware of the tragedy that befell many other people in the town.

- Jessica Miller

I remember it well. I was playing Trouble with my sister, when the cat ran up the wall colliding with the ceiling before the house shook like a truck had hit it.

- Adam Wiseman

I was working at Coles, Wallsend Plaza when everything moved. Roof panels started falling. People running and screaming. I grabbed the counter and later likened it to the Turkey Trot ride at Luna Park. Very scary.

- Merran Burridge

Me and two mates caught the train down to Newcastle from Telarah to see Uncle Buck at the cinema. We got off at Wickham Station and walked up. We stopped at a video game stall first, then when the earthquake hit, we were in old Oscars record store, next to health food store in Hunter Street. We ran outside. A lady got sprayed with a glass panel from the health food store. Hunter Street was like a wave. We walked around to the cinema and saw the chaos. We ended up at Civic Station and the police were on the loud speaker stating there could be aftershocks.

- Craig Pratt

While you're with us, did you know Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here.