The 18 September 1692 Earthquake in the Belgian Ardenne and Its Aftershocks - Historical Seismology: Interdisciplinary Studies of Past and Recent Earthquakes - page 210

considered in future studies on the earthquake, is the assessment of the vulnerability
of the different types of constructions at the epoch of the earthquake. It is generally
accepted that the vulnerability classes of traditional houses range from A to B. Con-
sidering that houses are of vulnerability class A, “few” damage of grade 4 means
intensity VII, “few” damage of grade 5 corresponds to intensity VIII.
For some localities damage to monumental buildings is described. In Soiron ,the
castle and the church suffered from heavy structural damage and, with the exception
of the tower of the church, had to be torn down completely and were rebuild a few
years later. In Walhorn , the castle of Crapoel suffered from the same kind of build-
ing damage. If we consider that monumental buildings are generally better built and
better-maintained, their vulnerability should be less than traditional houses. Thus,
we suggest attributing intensity VIII to these two localities, but also to Herve and
Ensival where several houses collapsed. For the other localities, we prefer to give
intensity VII or VIII. In the case of Charneux and Waucomont-Battice , the source
noticed a single description of destruction and consequently they are perhaps iso-
lated cases in these localities. For Kerkrade and Limbourg the description is more
general and is perhaps not related to the city itself.
In Soiron , the owner of the castle provided also an impressive description of the
earthquake effects that could be evaluated as intensity IX in EMS-98 “ Ce tremble-
ment venait du septentrion et fait a fait qu'il s'avan¸oit on voyait hausser la

surface de la terre, en sorte que plusieurs personnes et animaux en furent culbutez
et les arbres et la haie se courboyent comme s'ils avoyent fait la reverence et puis
se jettoyent dans leurs place avec grande violence ” [“The tremors came from the
septentrion and as they were getting closer, you could see the earth rise up, so much
so that several people and animals fell over and trees and hedges bowed down as
though in reverence and then were thrown back with great violence”] (Nicolas Ig-
nace de Woelmont, Histoire de la maison de Woelmont). This source supports our
previous intensity evaluation.
For other localities, the descriptions are more concentrated on the amount of
damage to the chimneys and do not mention necessarily the collapse or complete
destruction of houses. Thus, this suggests that degree of damage is 2 and 3 and could
be widespread in these cities. If buildings are of vulnerability A, the corresponding
intensity should be VII. If they are of vulnerability B, intensity could be also VIII.
This is the case in Montzen ,“ seint alle Schornsteinen oder Caminen abgefallen ”
[“reports that all chimneys have fallen down”] (Comptes de l'eglise paroissiale de
Montzen); Stavelot et Malmedy ,“ ilyaeuplusieursedifices endommagez et beau-
coups de cheminees bouleversees a Malmedy, Stavelot et ailleurs ” [“several build-
ings were damaged and many a chimney was toppled over in Malmedy, Stavelot
and other places”] (Note du Registre paroissial de Malmedy); Aachen ,“ die Camin-
nen oder Schornstein sein heruntergefallen und geborsten, auch etliche Hauser ”
[“the chimneys fell down and broke, together with a number of houses”] (Janssen,
Aachener Chronik); Polleur ,“ In dem Dorffe Bleur so auff einem Felsen eine Stunde
von Verviers gelegen war nicht ein Schorstein gantz geblieben ” [“In the village of
Bleur situated on a cliff one hour from Verviers not a single chimney remained
standing”] (Ungl ucks-Chronica 1692); Villers-le-Temple ,“ Lorsqui at abatu beau-
cou de cheminees et vielles murailles et les disloques ” [“then were pulled down a

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