The Swiss Seismological Service located the epicenter of the earthquake 18 kilometers north of Laufenburg in Germany.
The earth shook north of Switzerland during the night. According to the ETH’s seismological service, the quake with a magnitude of 4.2 was felt throughout Switzerland – particularly in the Basel region and in Aargau. There have already been numerous aftershocks.
According to the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at ETH Zurich, it registered an earthquake in Germany during the night. Its epicenter is said to have been 18 kilometers northwest of Laufenburg and a good 4 kilometers southeast of Freiburg im Breisgau (D). However, no damage has been reported to the SED so far.
The quake occurred at 3:06 a.m. with a magnitude of 4.2 on the Richter scale. “This earthquake was probably felt throughout Switzerland,” the seismological service wrote in an initial, automatically generated message. Minor damage is possible in isolated cases in the vicinity of the epicenter in an earthquake of this magnitude.
As a result, several aftershocks occurred in the same region. According to the seismological service, these occurred at 3:13 a.m. (magnitude: 1.7), at 3:23 a.m. and 3:55 a.m. each with a magnitude of 1.4, and most recently at 6:01 a.m. with a magnitude of 1.1, as the seismological service writes on its website. “Further aftershocks can be expected,” writes the SED. Such aftershocks usually occur after stronger earthquakes, with frequency and strength decreasing over time.
This is where the earthquake was felt most strongly
As the earthquake service wrote on its website early in the morning, “over 1,200 reports of sensations had already been received” during the night. “The quake was clearly felt, particularly in northern Aargau, and strong enough to wake up part of the population.” Specifically, according to the SED, most of the reports came from Liestal, Schaffhausen, Möhlin, Pratteln and the surrounding areas.
There are also numerous online reports of what was felt in the neighboring regions of Germany and France. According to the independent earthquake research service European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), numerous citizens north of Switzerland were also woken up during the night. But there have been no reports of damage or even casualties there either.
Further quakes with a similar or even greater magnitude than the quake at 3:06 a.m. are therefore unlikely, but cannot be ruled out. In general, however, earthquakes in this region are “not unusual” according to the Swiss Seismological Service. According to the SED, the last noticeable quake in the area north of Laufenberg was recorded on March 12, 2018 with a magnitude of 3.1 at a depth of 17 kilometers.
For comparison: As the Seismological Service writes on its website, it has already registered 866 earthquakes in Switzerland this year. With its network of more than 200 seismometers, the SED records an average of three to four earthquakes per day in Switzerland and its neighbouring countries. This makes a total of 1,000 to 1,500 earthquakes per year. (sat)
