March 14, 1584 Earthquake: Switzerland
A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck Switzerland on March 14, 1584 at 08:00 UTC.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- March 14, 1584
- Time
- 08:00 UTC
- Place
- Switzerland
- Magnitude
- 5.4 (Mw)
- Intensity
- 5 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 46.300° N, 7.000° E
- Country
- Switzerland
The toll
- Deaths
- Many (about 101 to 1,000)
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
On March 11-14, 1584, between seven and 25 seismic shocks affected the regions of Lake Geneva, Saanen (BE), and the adjacent areas, whereof the first and perhaps one from the fourth day caused damage.
Gregorian reform of the Julian calendar in October 1582, an astronomical correction of 10 days, was partially introduced in Switzerland in 1584. For more than 200 years, it produced different dates in historical sources and earthquake catalogs, as for example Bertrand (1756) for 1584. In the following, we date in the Gregorian calendar of today but often list double dates for showing the original Julian dating.
On March 14 between 8 and 9 (UTC) in the morning, a landslide covered the villages Corbeyrier and Yvorne above Aigle, in modern Canton Vaud. According to the 1584 leaflet by the printer Samuel Apiarius from Basel, another earthquake had preceded the slide.
The strongest aftershock on March 14, 1584, reached a magnitude of Mw 5.4.
(all above from reference #12139)
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- October 18, 1356, Basel, Switzerland
- March 11, 1584, Geneva-Yvoire, Switzerland
- September 18, 1601, Switzerland
- February 13, 1991, France
- March 11, 1817, Chamonix Valley, France
- April 2, 1808, Valley of Pellice, Chisone, Italy
- July 25, 1855, Haut-Valais, Switzerland
- March 13, 1584, Switzerland
- May 3, 1574, Switzerland
- April 18, 1835, Switzerland
- December 9, 1755, Switzerland
- January 1, 1851, Switzerland
- August 16, 1839, Switzerland
- January 18, 1155, Borgogne, Italy
- 1003, Burgundy, France
More
Significant earthquakes of 1584The 1500sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 781.