The 1356 Basel earthquake is the most significant seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe in recorded history[1] and had a moment magnitude in the range of 6.0–7.1.

[6] On the other hand, recent paleoseismic studies attribute the cause of this earthquake to a normal fault, oriented NNE-SSW and south of the town.

[5][10] From this macroseismic data, various studies have been conducted to estimate the moment magnitude of the earthquake, which have resulted in various values of 6.2 (BRGM 1998);[2][5] 6.0 (GEO-TER 2002);[2] 6.9 (SED 2004) with a follow-up report suggesting a range of between 6.7 and 7.1;[2] 6.6 (GFZ 2006);[2] and a major Swiss study by 21 European experts, with American involvement, in which four sub-groups estimated values of 6.9, 6.9, 6.5 to 6.9, and 6.5 ± 0.5 (PEGASOS 2002–2004).

[2] The earthquake destroyed the city of Basel, Switzerland, near the southern end of the Upper Rhine Graben, and caused much destruction in a vast region extending from Paris to Prague.

According to the Swiss Seismological Service, of more than 10,000 earthquakes in Switzerland over the past 800 years, only half a dozen of them have registered more than 6.0 on the Richter scale.