How to make your own Earthquake

For such a small country Switzerland achieves admirable results. We even manage to manufacture earthquakes. First of all you have to choose a town that lays in an area where earthquakes can occur. We chose Bâle, a town sharing its borders with France and Germany. In 1356 Basel was destroyed by an earthquake so this was a good choice.

The next step was to organise some deep-heat mining - since the beginning of December a hole had been bored in Bâle at a depth of approximately 5 Km and water was pumped into it to increase the porosity of the bedrock with the idea that the warmth from the ground rock could be used for heating purposes. The project did say that a small earthquake and vibrations would accompany the work and there could be a small risk. However the population were assured that everything was under control and everyone seemed to be happy (except for the people living in Bâle as it is not funny when your furniture shakes from time to time and various fragile objects fall out of their cases or crockery may fall to the floor).

A small problem did arise yesterday on Friday at 05.49 p.m., when an earthquake occured reaching 3.4 on the richter scale. The police in Bâle had quite a lot to do with people phoning and asking what was happening and if they have to be evacuated. As no actual damage occurred the police managed to reassure the inhabitants, although one policeman is quoted as saying "there were strong vibrations".

Although the Swiss can now do something that no-one really thought that such a small country could achieve, they have decided to stop the project for the time being. I am particularly happy about this as Basel lays only 40 Kilometers to the North of where I live.