The earthquake of 27thFebrary 1768 in Lower Austria: repair costs and seismic intensity in Wr.Neustadt

Abstract

During the Age of Enlightenment the importance of administration increased. It left its traces in the official inquiries after natural disasters. For financial and other reasons authorities found it important to record the dam- age done to buildings by earthquakes. This background reflects the official inquiries after the damaging earthquake of 27th February I 768 in Lower Austria, which includes an important additional piece of information: a record of the respective damage costs il1 floril1s per house in Wr. Neustadt. In this study an attempt of quantification is made to relate the damage costs to the respective damage class and intensity according to the EMS- 92 scale. The earthquake intensity for Wr. Neustadt as a whole is estimated to be I = VII EMS-92. This result contrasts with older publications, where the intensity VII- VIII or VIII has been assessed.