Earthquakes can neither be prevented nor precisely predicted. Therefore, they have a great potential to cause damage and affect the well-being of society: During the 20^th century, earthquakes in Europe accounted for more than 200,000 deaths and over 250 billion Euros in losses (EM-DAT).

However, assessments of earthquake hazard and risk improve the understanding of where strong ground shaking is most likely to occur and what impacts future earthquakes will have. Such models also exist at the European level. They offer comparable information, which is crucial for defining transnational disaster risk mitigation strategies to reduce damage from future earthquakes and protect lives.

Earthquakes of magnitude 4 or higher that have occurred in Europe in the last thousand years.