"No damage expected" In Ticino, artificial quakes will be triggered at the touch of a button in Zurich from Monday
Researchers trigger artificial earthquakes in an underground laboratory in Ticino. The experiments in the Bedretto rock laboratory will start on Monday, as the people in charge told the Keystone-SDA news agency on request.
18.04.2026, 11:01
18.04.2026, 11:32
SDA
Over several days, scientists will press water into a fracture between two layers of rock in the Bedrettolab, an ETH Zurich research laboratory in the former Bedretto construction tunnel of the Furka tunnel.
This should set the rock blocks in motion and cause the earth to shake. For the experiment, the researchers gradually increase the pressure until a magnitude 1 earthquake occurs or until 2000 cubic meters of water have been pressed into the rock.
According to the risk assessment, a magnitude 1 quake would probably not cause any damage, according to the project website.
Button is pressed in Zurich
However, very minor damage in the vicinity of the experiment is possible. Serious damage to the tunnels is only to be expected from a magnitude of 2.5. The probability of this is estimated at around one percent.
According to the researchers, the probability of an earthquake causing damage outside the Bedretto tunnel is 1 in 10,000, which is significantly lower than the probability of a natural earthquake being felt or causing damage in the region during the same period.
Nevertheless, there are no people in the tunnel during the experiment. The experiment is triggered from Zurich.
Predicting earthquakes?
The research team wants to clarify fundamental questions by taking measurements directly at the source of an earthquake. These include what happens immediately before an earthquake and what brings such an event to a standstill.
The researchers hope to use the data to improve the prediction of earthquakes. However, the researchers explained that it is still unclear how predictable earthquakes really are. Despite decades of searching, no reliable prediction signals have yet been found.
"As we don't have the time to wait until another earthquake occurs in exactly the right place, we trigger them ourselves," said Stefan Wiemer from ETH Zurich and the Swiss Seismological Service at a presentation of the upcoming experiments last September.
The project, called "Fault Activation and Earthquake Rupture" (FEAR), is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) with 14 million euros.
