The Swiss Seismological Service is the federal agency of Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 responsible for monitoring earthquakes and assessing the seismic hazard

Seismic hazard

Seismic hazard refers to the study of expected earthquake ground motions at the earth's surface, and its likely effects on existing natural conditions and man-made structures for public safety considerations; the results of such studies are published as seismic hazard maps, which identify the...

 of Switzerland. The agency is affiliated with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich

ETH Zurich

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich or ETH Zürich is an engineering, science, technology, mathematics and management university in the City of Zurich, Switzerland....

. Activities at the Swiss Seismological Service includes research on historical seismicity, strong-motion and engineering seismology, seismotectonics

Seismotectonics

Seismotectonics is the study of the relationship between the earthquakes, active tectonics and individual faults of a region. It seeks to understand which faults are responsible for seismic activity in an area by analysing a combination of regional tectonics, recent instrumentally recorded events,...

 of the greater Alpine region, earthquake location

Earthquake location

The primary purpose of a seismometer is to locate the initiating points of earthquake epicenters. The secondary purpose, of determining the 'size' or Moment magnitude scale must be calculated after the precise location is known....

, verification of nuclear explosions (in compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty), and statistical earthquake seismology.