Earthquakes near Geneva through history

One stands far above the rest: an estimated magnitude 8 on March 11, 1817 (Chamonix Valley). The next strongest reached 5.9. The deadliest was not the strongest: an estimated magnitude 5.9 on March 11, 1584 (Geneva-Yvoire), for which NOAA records 100 deaths. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 104 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is an earthquake on August 16, 1839. NOAA’s record here begins in AD 563 with a tsunami (Lake Geneva). NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Geneva. The highest water NOAA records here was 18 m, on March 11, 1584.

• August 16, 1839EarthquakeNOAA NCEI
• March 11, 1817Earthquake · M 8.0 (est.)Chamonix Valley · 4 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• March 11, 1584Earthquake · M 5.9 (est.)Geneva-Yvoire · 100 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• March 11, 1584Tsunami · 18 m hereSwitzerlandNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• AD 563TsunamiLake GenevaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

• An event counts for Geneva when it began within 100 km of its centre, or 200 km for an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. Damage can reach further.
• USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
• NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
• Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
• A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
• Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history