Earthquake history

Past earthquake activity and historical earthquake recordings (e.g. location, intensity and impact) are key to understanding and estimating future seismicity and ground shaking. Historical descriptions of an earthquake are translated into a modern description including magnitude, epicentre and depth of focus. To calculate the 2015 seismic hazard model of Switzerland, information on all known damaging earthquakes and their effects up to 1975 was collected and re-evaluated. Since 1975, the Swiss seismic network has enabled comprehensive instrumental monitoring of earthquake activity. The historical and instrumental earthquakes are combined into a catalogue, known as the Earthquake Catalogue of Switzerland (ECOS-09). This can be used to estimate the geographical distribution and probabilities of future earthquakes in Switzerland.