In the evening of Friday, 25 January 1946, Sierre in the canton of Valais was hit by an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8.
It was already dark and there was snow on the ground in Sierre. At 18:32 the ground shook for a number of seconds. People ran out into the streets, chimneys and tiles fell from the rooftops and the streets were strewn with rubble. The power supply failed and for 10 minutes the city was plunged into total darkness. Very soon, the telephone lines became so overburdened that for a number of hours great uncertainty and chaos ensued.
Only the next day did the full consequences of the earthquake become apparent: 3 fatalities and 3,500 seriously damaged buildings. The value of the total damage caused would be equivalent to CHF 26 million in today's money.