Ancient Earthquakes at Lake Lucerne

摘要

On Tuesday the 18th of September, 1601, shortly before two o'clock in the morning, a strong and truly frightening earthquake hit the region around Lucerne.... Nobody could remember a similar event and even chronicles do not document that the city ever experienced a similar occurrence." So begins the eyewitness report of Renward Cysat, a city clerk in Lucerne, Switzer- land, who amply documented the catastrophic events that followed one of the strongest known earthquakes in central Europe. That temblor caused considerable damage over much of Switzerland and was felt in parts of France, Germany and Italy. Seismologists estimate that this quake, had it been recorded with modern instruments, would have ranked something like 6.2 on the Richter scale, which would put it on par with many damaging earthquakes that have struck near Los Angeles and San Francisco in recent times.