One person died as a result of the earthquake on 13 April. A 79-year-old lady suffered a fatal heart attack brought on by the shock. Authorities in the Rhineland reported a total of 40 injuries. Many buildings were damaged, especially old buildings and delicate church architecture. St. Pan­kra­ti­us church in Ober­pleis had to be closed due to severe danger of collapse.

In many Bonn neighbourhoods, structural engineers went from house to house at random. Expert advice was needed everywhere due to the deep cracks which had appeared. At the same time, technical terms like Richter scale, plate tectonics and natural hazard insurance became part of everyday language. The tiny Dutch town of Ro­er­mond became famous – this was where the epicentre of the earthquake was located, more precisely 18km under the ground, and its effects could be felt as far as Belgium, northern France, across the Rhineland and up to Westphalia in the east.

Almost 100km south in Bonn, a rumble spread through the streets at 3.20am. The sleeping people wondered what was happening and what they should do. It sounded as though a goods train was travelling through the basement whilst at the same time a giant was shaking the roof. The whole thing lasted for 15 seconds, which must have felt like a really long time. Hundreds of Bonn residents ran from their houses, still dressed in pyjamas and dressing gowns. The telephone rang constantly at police and fire brigade stations and calls were even made to the army. Many people did not think of an earthquake but assumed there had been a large explosion. Even Bonn Chief of Police Mi­cha­el Knie­sel’s knees were shaking; “I thought my bed had fallen apart,” he said to the Ge­ne­ral-An­zei­ger. Nearly everyone has a story of clanging glasses in the cupboards, pictures falling from the walls and books tumbling out of bookcases. We say nearly everyone, as some people woke up the next day saying they had dreamt about shaking and swinging in the night. Night owls in Bonn confirmed the phenomena of an early warning system from the animal kingdom - a few minutes before the earthquake, the cries of magpies and crows could be heard.

Throughout the day the police and fire brigade began to assess the damage. From the Ma­ri­en­kir­che in Bad Go­des­berg a massive stone cross one meter high and wide threatened to fall onto the street. It was removed with the help of a crane from a heavy haulage company. At the old town hall in Ober­kas­sel roof structures and ornamental towers became loose and were rescued by the fire services. At Bert­ha-von-Sutt­ner-Platz and Kon­rad-Ade­nau­er-Platz in Beu­el many chimneys were in danger of falling down and both traffic junctions were closed off. Similarly there was traffic chaos on Bonner Tal­weg. One building in Goe­bens­tra­ße was so badly damaged that one of the flats was no longer inhabitable. The owner was taken to hospital with shock. Minor damage was reported on buildings from all areas of the city. Cracks had appeared in the staircase of the old town hall. At the university, a crack appeared in the gallery of the new auditorium. Chaos reigned in the seminars as books had flown from the shelves. At the Fran­ken­bad swimming pool parts of the roof ended up in the water. And even the stage of the Bon­n Re­public did not escape from the effects of the earthquake. When building the new plenary hall, the architect Gün­ter Beh­nisch added a support beam, which provided a new element in the heated discussions about its completion date. The 72m high city hall building was left completely intact.

Bonn was not the only city to be affected by the earthquake. Several of the large finial ornaments on top of the Cologne cathedral fell to the ground, one of these made a huge hole in the roof of the vestry and another fell on the square below. Just over the border in the Dutch town of Her­ken­bosch, a church was badly damaged. In the county of Ahr­wei­ler, the majority of the damage occurred in the area of Re­ma­gen-Ober­win­ter-Ro­lands­eck – cracks appeared across buildings down as far as the cellars, rendering came off the walls, chimneys caved in, crockery in kitchen cupboards was broken, and there were power cuts. The most badly affected area was the county of Heins­berg. 25 people who had fled on to the streets were injured by falling roof tiles and over 150 houses were badly damaged. Some buildings were so badly damaged that they later had to be pulled down.

A family from near Erkelenz were on holiday in Majorca at the time and had a tragicomic story to tell. In the days before mobile phones and the internet, the Bild newspaper was the only source of information from back home. And the tabloid paper did not neglect the subject. People from the Rhineland who were holidaying in Spain were confronted with huge headlines saying that their home country had been struck by a devastating natural disaster. Dra­ma­ti­c photographs from the few derelict buildings gave the first impressions of the earthquake areas in Rur and Niers. Only a trembling call back home lightened the fear – not only had people managed to survive the tremors, but they recognised that the newspaper’s dramatic presentation had been somewhat over the top. But it was true that the cost of damage lay at around 260 million marks.

Since the beginning of records, over 2000 earthquakes have been noted in North Rhineland. “We live in an area affected by tectonic movements” says Iris Schwel­len­bach, scientist at the research station. The fact that the tectonic movements in the region are particularly pronounced is due to the thinning of the earth’s crust. Experts call these subduction zones. In parts of the Eifel, volcanic activity can increase the probability of an earthquake. The mining in the Ruhr and in the Cologne Bucht also cause small tremors.

“People underestimate the risks of earthquakes,” reminded Bonn geographer Lot­har Schrott. The Pro­fes­sor has been lecturing at the university in Bonn since 2013. He calls for schools to teach children how to behave in case of catastro­phes such as earthquakes. The geographer has addressed the issue in many articles for specialist journals. The risk in Germany is indeed much lower than in other countries. But it is a problem when a natural ca­ta­stro­phe is no longer in people’s minds after 30 years”, he says. For earthquake researchers, this is a ridiculously short period of time.

Close enough for scientists are the earthquakes from the years 1640, 1756, 1759 and the following year, which shook the people of Bonn with several earth tremors. In1812 the mayor of Vi­li­ch Leo­nard Stroof reported an earthquake to the Prefect in Düs­sel­dorf, which moved the local residents to “fright and trepidation”. The earth moved once again in Bonn and the region on 22nd July 2002 – also a Monday morning – when the crockery in many Bonn cupboards started to dance around. The most recent earthquake which could be felt in Bonn took place on 3rd August 2007.

What should we do when the earth starts to shake? Apart from the university, there are other institutes in Germany who have prepared practical advice for such occurrences. The German Research Centre for Geoscience (GFZ) in Potsdam advises taking cover in buildings under a heavy table or looking for stable door frames, or laying on the floor as far away as possible from the windows.

They advise against trying to leave a building during an earthquake, as you could be hit by falling parts in the stairwell or even fall over yourself. If at the start of the shaking, you are on the ground floor and close to an exterior door, you should quickly go outside to a large open space. So, remember – quickly take cover underneath the door frame – if there’s a next time.

(Original text: Rüdiger Franz, Translation: Caroline Payne)