Affected people and assets

An earthquake risk only exists where there are people and assets. This component therefore encompasses the spatial distribution of Switzerland's more than 2 million residential, commercial and industrial buildings. It also factors in the number of people occupying these buildings and the replacement costs.

In general, densely populated, heavily built-up areas such as cities and agglomerations have a higher exposure concentration than rural regions and are therefore exposed to a higher earthquake risk. The possible impacts of earthquakes on infrastructure and the variations in building occupancy over time are not yet represented in the earthquake risk model.