Knowing where earthquakes will cause damage

Earthquake risk map of Switzerland. Dark red zones: very high risk, light blue areas: very low risk. (Schweizerischer Erdbebendienst SED) The Swiss Seismological Service at ETH Zurich has just introduced the first seismic risk model for Switzerland. It shows the potential impact of earthquakes on people and buildings in the country. Imagine a magnitude 6 earthquake striking ten kilometres north-east of the city of Zurich at some point in the future. That's a massive, seriously destructive earthquake that would be felt in all of Switzerland and would damage thousands of buildings in the canton of Zurich alone - not to mention the hundreds of possible fatalities and thousands of people made homeless, perhaps still living in emergency accommodation a year after the quake. This scenario is not impossible, and it's not just a storyline from a disaster film.