December 20, 1720 Earthquake: Switzerland
An earthquake struck Switzerland on December 20, 1720 at 04:30 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
- December 20, 1720
- Time
- 04:30 UTC
- Place
- Switzerland
- Intensity
- 8 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 47.400° N, 9.500° E
- Country
- Switzerland
The toll
- 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.
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- June 10, 1510, Nordlingen, Bavaria, Germany
- October 18, 1356, Basel, Switzerland
- December 22, 1689, Augsburg, Innsbruck, Germany, Austria
- September 18, 1601, Switzerland
- July 25, 1855, Haut-Valais, Switzerland
- April 5, 1295, Switzerland
- September 4, 1295, Switzerland
- 1769, Switzerland
- September 10, 1774, Switzerland
- March 1504, Switzerland
- May 14, 1801, Switzerland
- July 25, 1622, Switzerland
- August 3, 1622, Switzerland
- March 22, 2003, Albstadt, Germany
- 1375, Switzerland
More
Significant earthquakes of 1720The 1700sRecent 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 1219.