Earthquake hits Swiss Alps near Mürren

A chalet in Mürren. Keystone-SDA

The earth shook near Mürren in the Bernese Oberland on Monday afternoon with a magnitude of around 4.2 on the Richter scale. No major damage is expected, although the quake is reported to have triggered a rockfall in the nearby Sefinental valley.

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The quake occurred at 12:52pm near Mürren, the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) wrote in an automated message. By 3:30pm, more than 400 reports had been received, according to the service’s website. The quake was felt over a wide area, particularly in a north-south direction as far as Basel and Sion.

In addition, some people reported a rockfall in the Sefinental valley, Philippe Roth from the SED told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA. The cantonal police in Bern had not received any reports by the afternoon, according to an enquiry.

Minor damage such as cracks in the plaster are possible in isolated cases in the event of an earthquake of this magnitude near the epicentre, Roth added. However, this only affects buildings on unstable ground. No injuries are to be expected.

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According to the SED, there was already an earthquake in Mürren last week. The most recent stronger quake at the same location occurred in September, when it had a magnitude of 3.5. There are also likely to be noticeable aftershocks in the coming days and weeks.

According to Roth, quakes in the Bernese Oberland are “no surprise”. Seismologically, the area can be categorised as Valais, which is particularly at risk by Swiss standards, as are Basel and Graubünden. The regional tectonics, geology and stress conditions in the Earth’s crust play a role here.

The SED registers an average of three to four earthquakes per day in Switzerland and neighbouring countries, or 1,000 to 1,500 quakes per year. The population actually feels around ten to 20 earth tremors per year with magnitudes from around 2.5.

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Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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