geography • events

Here earthquakes are very rare and we have no volcanos in Switzerland. The only region with some minor earthquakes are the Alps. They are still growing and so there are some movements of the geological structure. Compared to Italy - our southern neighbour country which is frequently victim of earthquake disasters - we are not very worried a lot about earthquakes. Nevertheless we know, that there was a very strong earthquake here in the 16th century - all major towns and castles were destroyed at that time. As the period since that disaster is already very long, the probability of another catastrophe doesn't decrease!

Actually we have more problems with our rivers and the avalanches. As the average temperature increases, the rainfalls get stronger too. The lower part of the frozen zones in the Alps thaw; there the gravel-masses begin to move and the danger of mud and stone avalanches is bigger than before. In summer 1993 our village has been covered by water and earth caused by a very strong rainstorm. There were many houses who needed to be repaired and unfortunately one man died. He wanted to save his car from the water masses but he couldn't stand, fell down and disappeared.

Each winter we have avalanches in the mountains - people living there know well the risks, but very often tourists, skiers and snow boarders don't and let their life in the snow.

geography

© sherif dakaj, petar miljanovic, patrick hauser, martin voser s3a sekundarschule spreitenbach, switzerland