Switzerland

Earthquakes in Switzerland through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 6 or more in Switzerland. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.2, twice: on September 18, 1601 and on January 25, 1946 (2 km WNW of Kandersteg, Switzerland).

Open the live map

The last 30 days · as of

USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.

Live
Open the live map

What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake on October 18, 1356 (Basel), for which NOAA records 300 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 29 here, back to AD 563. NOAA records deaths in 4 of the events here, 410 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 3.9 on December 8, 2006 (Basel). NOAA’s record here begins in AD 563 with a tsunami (Lake Geneva). 28 of the 29 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 4 tsunamis that began in Switzerland. The highest of them reached 18 m, on March 11, 1584.

The events

  • December 8, 2006Earthquake · M 3.9BaselNOAA NCEI
  • January 25, 1946Earthquake · M 6.22 km WNW of Kandersteg, SwitzerlandUSGS
  • September 18, 1601Earthquake · M 6.2 (est.)9 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
  • March 14, 1584Earthquake · M 5.4 (est.)NOAA NCEI
  • March 11, 1584Earthquake · M 5.9 (est.)Geneva-Yvoire · 100 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • March 11, 1584Tsunami · 18 m highSwitzerlandNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • October 18, 1356EarthquakeBasel · 300 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
  • AD 563TsunamiLake GenevaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

Good to know

  • An event counts for Switzerland when it began inside its borders. Damage can reach across them.
  • 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.
  • The map frames the box around Switzerland, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
  • 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

Other places nearby