After a severe earthquake, emergency services must rapidly obtain a picture of the situation in order to deploy their resources as efficiently as possible. Rapid impact assessments contribute to this process, especially in the hours immediately after an earthquake when only limited or incomplete information is available from the affected area. It is also very important to keep the public informed in such a scenario. Although large-scale damage is only anticipated for earthquake magnitudes of around 5 or above, the SED already publishes a rapid impact assessment for smaller quakes with a magnitude of 3 or more. This helps to ensure that the whole process from creation through to application can be enacted and practiced on a regular basis. On average, damaging earthquakes occur in Switzerland only every 8 to 15 years.
On our website you will find the national overviews of the rapid damage assessments in the detailed information on all quakes with a magnitude of 3 or greater. They are usually published within the first hour after an earthquake. This is how long it takes to process the data.
In additions, authorities and the Earthquake Damage Organization (EDO) will have access to cantonal overviews, showing the anticipated consequences of a quake for each canton and its communes. Access to the cantonal overviews is limited because the uncertainties at this level are even greater than at national level, meaning that the values need to be interpreted with due caution.