Every year, Switzerland experiences around 10 to 15 perceptible earthquakes. Quakes with a magnitude of at least 5 are expected to occur every 8 to 15 years. Larger seisms, with a magnitude of 6 or more, occur statistically only every 50 to 150 years in Switzerland and its neighbouring regions.
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake, the strongest ever to occur north of the Alps, shook Basel in 1356. The cantons of Grisons and Valais both experienced magnitude 6.2 earthquakes, in 1295 and 1855 respectively. These were the joint second strongest historically confirmed earthquakes in Switzerland.
The strongest Swiss earthquake recorded since the establishment of the comprehensive measuring system set up by the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) in the mid-1970s occurred near Vaz in Grisons in 1991, registering a magnitude of 5.0. The strongest earthquake to occur in a neighbouring country occurred in Annecy (France) in 1996 and had a magnitude of 5.2.
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The ten strongest earthquakes in Switzerland
