Macroseismic Intensity Re-Evaluation of the 11 June 1895 Mid-Silesia, Poland, Earthquake

Abstract

Abstract Earthquakes in slowly deforming intraplate regions like Poland are not as frequent or of high intensity as at the plate boundaries. However, few low-to-moderate intensity earthquakes have been reported to have shaken different regions of Poland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We present an intensity re-evaluation of one of these earthquakes—the 11 June 1895 Mid-Silesia, southwestern Poland earthquake. Damage reports were collected from 563 towns and villages of the Silesia region soon after the earthquake. However, these reports and the names of the places are in German. The damage reports were translated from German to English and the names of the places to present names in Polish. The intensity re-evaluation was carried out using the modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) scale. The highest intensity on the MMI scale is evaluated to be VII in two important towns of Strzelin and Ziębice. The reports mention damage to the estate officer’s house by the 11 June 1895 Mid-Silesia earthquake. In this study, the location of the estate officer’s house was determined, and suspected earthquake damage to the building was demarcated.