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Experts call for urgent earthquake safety measures in Switzerland

Earthquake experts urged the Swiss authorities Thursday to swiftly beef up building codes, saying about 20 percent of all constructions in the country were not safe enough should a tremor hit Switzerland.

Earthquake experts urged the Swiss authorities Thursday to swiftly beef up building codes, saying about 20 percent of all constructions in the country were not safe enough should a tremor hit Switzerland.

The experts from the Federal Institute of Technology told a news conference in Berne that earthquakes were the most likely natural catastrophe to affect the country.

Even though no major quake had hit Switzerland in recent history, there had been 800 tremors causing serious damage in the 1,000 years, the scientists said.

Every 100 years, Switzerland is likely to feel the effects of a quake similar to that which hit Greece earlier this month. About 140 people were killed in that magnitude 5.6 tremor.

Buildings constructed in Switzerland after 1989 are generally considered safe as they were set up in line with modern construction standards. But experts warn that in many cases even those earthquake-conscious building codes were ignored or watered down due to economic pressure.

Buildings with “soft” basements, chemical plants and bridges were the most likely constructions to suffer serious damage, according to the scientists.

“We are spending hundreds of millions of Swiss francs on protection measures against flooding, avalanches or severe storms each year. But the money allocated to protection against tremors totals merely hundreds of thousands of Swiss francs,” they told the news conference.

From staff and wire reports.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR