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Many of the biggest national stories of the year were shrouded in tragedy.

Thirty-five years after Australia's deadliest earthquake, one of the key figures in the response to the disaster warns that lessons remain to be learnt.

At 10.27am on Thursday, December 28, 1989, the 5.6-magnitude earthquake rippled through the New South Wales city of Newcastle.

Despite lasting just six seconds, the impact reduced buildings to rubble, felled power lines and left 13 people dead and 162 injured.

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John McNaughton, 87, who was the city's lord mayor at the time, says there were about 400,000 people in the Newcastle region and they could still probably recall they were on the notorious day.

"I was on our sailing boat at Tea Gardens," he told 9news.com.au.

"I felt the earthquake and went ashore to buy some groceries and the whole town was shocked that a quake had struck.

"They didn't realise the epicentre was near the coast and that Newcastle had been devastated."

Knowing he was urgently needed in central Newcastle and with his car parked kilometres away, McNaughton was driven in a police paddy wagon, with his son riding in the rear, to the city.

When he arrived, he soon learned recovery operations were centred on the collapsed Newcastle Workers Club, where nine people died and other survivors were trapped beneath the rubble.

When the quake struck, the club was being prepared for a rock concert, expected to be attended by about 2000 fans later in the day.

McNaughton says one of the hardest decisions during the catastrophe was to withdraw rescue crews from the site due to the instability of the damaged building.

"There was a giant brick wall, and it was leaning at a considerable angle and had begun to move."

With survivors crying for help under the rubble, the police commander made the hard decision to pull out search and rescue squads while machinery was moved in to reinforce the wall.

READ MORE: Sam Kerr's grandmother in hospital after being hit by car

Looking back on the events of 35 years ago, McNaughton continues to feel immensely proud of how authorities and the local community responded to the disaster.

"Everyone pulled together to help during those dark days," he said.

But he is concerned Newcastle and the surrounding Hunter region is not prepared for another earthquake.

He points to historical records showing the city was struck by four major quakes since white settlement – in 1842, 1868, 1925 and 1989.

"If you do the sums … we are closer to the next earthquake than past the last one."

In the 35 years since the earthquake, local authorities have developed disaster plans and emergency services have trained for a future disaster hitting the city.

But McNaughton says the community needs to be educated about how to respond if another hits, particularly around schools.

He wants to see emergency protocols, similar to ones in some US cities, which advise parents to park their car away from their children's school in the aftermath of an earthquake.

"You've got to stop them clogging up the roads, so the police and ambulances can get to where the schools are."

Newcastle earthquake toll in numbers

• The earthquake claimed 13 lives: nine people died at the Newcastle Workers Club, three people were killed in Beaumont Street Hamilton, and one person died of shock. Another 160 people were injured.
• 50,000 buildings were damaged (approximately 40,000 of these were homes).
• 300,000 people were affected and 1000 were made homeless.
• The damage bill is estimated to be about $4 billion in today's terms.
• The effects were felt over an area of about 200,000 square km, with isolated reports of movement up to 800km from Newcastle.
• The earthquake epicentre was at Boolaroo.

Rod Emmerson’s take on the week.

Sam Kerr's grandmother is this morning in a serious condition having been struck by a car in Perth's south-east.

Coral Kerr was getting off a bus in Palmyra just before 11am today when a driver allegedly mounted the curb while trying to overtake the bus and hit the 89-year-old.

Neighbours, including Mary Ivey, rushed to Kerr's side to help her and alerted her family.

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"She really wasn't responding too much, she was very sweaty and clammy and then she started," Ivey told 9News.

"I think she was in shock obviously."

Witnesses say the driver tried to overtake the bus and mounted the footpath.

"A bus pulled up at the bus stop and there was a line of traffic, of cars, but this chap must have got very impatient and he decided he'd pull out and go down on the footpath," neighbour Florence Mudge told 9News.

The 63-year-old man behind the wheel struck a power pole before hitting Kerr just metres from her Marmion Street home.

"People just don't think anymore, they just want to get where they wanna get," neighbour Noeline Mudge said.

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Locals say the area is a hot spot for crashes.

"This accident is the worst one we've ever seen here," Gilbert Anderson told 9News.

Kaye Anderson agreeing.

"Continually there's a lot of crashes but there's been four within the last two months," she told 9News.

Family and friends are now holding out hope Kerr will make a recovery as she is treated in Royal Perth Hospital.

She is in a serious but stable condition. 

"We just pray that Coral's got the strength to pull through this," Ivey said.

Sam Kerr's father, Roger Kerr, is flying home to WA from the east coast to be with his mother.

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