Basel earthquake area
The earthquake area of Basel is located on the Upper Rhine Graben , one of the most active earthquake areas in German-speaking countries. It is repeatedly shaken by light and stronger tremors . The strongest known earthquake , the " Basel earthquake of 1356 ", is also the strongest known earthquake north of the Alps . The greatest damage was caused by the fires as a result of the destruction caused by the quake: Since many houses were made of wood, the flames from open fireplaces could spread quickly.
Even today, the buildings in the city and the Basel region are not entirely earthquake-proof . Another earthquake of similar magnitude as in 1356 could have devastating effects and cause damage of around 50 billion Swiss francs. The locally based chemical companies such as Novartis , whose toxic products could flow into the Rhine ( -> major fire in Schweizerhalle ), the nearby nuclear power plants such as Beznau , Fessenheim or Leibstadt and the dams of the reservoirs in the neighboring Black Forest , z. B. at Schluchsee . In recent years, critical public buildings and buildings by Basler Chemie have been adapted to the seismic standards of the Swiss Association of Engineers and Architects (SIA).
On December 5, 2004, a magnitude 5.4 quake was measured in the region . The epicenter was between Waldkirch and St. Peter am Kandel about 45 km north on the German side of the Rhine in Baden-Württemberg .
Around the turn of the year 2006/2007 the Basel region was shaken by tremors up to magnitude 3.5, the cause of which was probably the geothermal energy extraction project Deep Heat Mining Basel . No major damage was known.
Web links
- February 20, 1995, Peter Knechtli, archiv.onlinereports.ch: An earthquake could banish Basel from the map
- badische-zeitung.de , April 28, 2018, Sarah Beha: The Lord's Prayer shakes for a long time (researchers from the Baden-Württemberg State Earthquake Service in search of historical earthquakes)
- September 2006, Ulrich Goetz, ugtexte.ch: Earthquake standards should be mandatory
Individual evidence
- ↑ How big is the risk with geothermal energy? www.nachrichten.ch, January 23, 2007, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved June 11, 2009 .