Speeding Fine Spirals Out Of Control; Freak Storm Causes Blackout; Earthquake Risk Assessed

News For 14 March 2023

Don't let your speeding violation fines go unattended.  That's the message from Basel Stadt after settling a driver's final bill for speeding a few years ago for 700 Swiss Francs.  The original ticket was only for 20 Francs, but the offender ignored the initial notices and subsequently disputed the fine.  What he apparently failed to notice was that with each new notice, additional processing fees were tacked on.  In the end, when he lost his dispute with the courts, fees for the court services were also applied.  Lesson learned.  

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According to MeteoSwiss, wind gusts of up to 100km/h were recorded last night when a storm blew across the Basel region.  In addition, up to 1700 lightning strikes were also recorded throughout the country.  Several communities around Basel, Hofstetten, Mariastein, and Beinwiel lost power after lightning struck power distribution systems.  

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Late last week, a Swiss federal study conducted by ETH assessed and published the risk to life and property throughout the country. Turns out, the Basel region has the highest earthquake risk - according to their findings, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Basel would result in the loss of 3000 lives and 21,000 injuries, and would leave over 70% of the building stock damaged.  Fortunately, earthquake construction standards have been in place for 20 years that require earthquake-proofing new buildings.  On the other hand, most buildings in Basel are over 20 years old, and it's unclear how many of those have been retrofitted with safety features to prevent the loss of life and damage.