List of earthquakes in Germany

Earthquakes in Germany are relatively weak but occur several times a year, some of them in coal mining areas where blasting sets them off.

[1] Most of the quakes occur in a seismically active zone associated with the Rhine Rift Valley that extends from the Swiss city of Basel into the Benelux countries, in particular in the "Cologne Bight".

There are also earthquake zones on the northern edge of the Alps, around Lake Constance, in the Vogtland, around Gera and in the Leipzig plain.

[2] [3] Germany is transected by parts of the European Cenozoic Rift System, particularly the Upper and Lower Rhine Grabens, and these areas remain tectonically active today.

Buildings were damaged in Cologne, Aachen, Jülich and Bad Münstereifel; shaking was felt in London, Magdeburg and Strasbourg.

[9] On 14 March 1951, shortly before 11 am, a magnitude 5.8 quake with epicentre near Euskirchen injured 11 people and caused significant damage.

[15] On 24 July 2009 at 4:58 am, an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.3 MW struck in western Germany, 20 km (12 mi) northwest of the city of Duisburg.

[19][20][21] The Geological Service of North Rhine-Westphalia announced the connection with mining confirmed by a 3.1 magnitude aftershock on 31 July 2009.