1356 Basel earthquake epicenter

The Basel earthquake of 18 October 1356 is the most significant seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe in recorded history. The earthquake destroyed the town of Basel, Switzerland, sited near the southern end of the Upper Rhine Graben, and caused much destruction in a vast region extending into France and Germany. Though major earthquakes are common at the seismically active edges of tectonic plates in Turkey, Greece and Italy, intraplate earthquakes are rare events in Central Europe: 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.