page_title: 1590 Neulengbach earthquake
section_title: Damage
hierarchical_section_title: 1590 Neulengbach earthquake / Damage
caption_attribution_description: English: Poland, Ząbkowice Śląskie - Leaning Tower (Krzywa Wieża).
context_page_description: The Neulengbach earthquake of 1590 occurred on 15 September shortly before midnight amidst a long series of much weaker seismic activity starting on 29 June and with aftershocks reported until 12 November. It was the strongest historically documented earthquake in what today is Northeastern Austria.
context_section_description: Significant destruction occurred in Vienna, which at this time had about 50,000 inhabitants living within a fortified and densely urban area that covered what today is the innermost city center. The upper half of St. Michael's church tower collapsed in spite of its steel reinforcements, the Scottish Abbey was severely damaged, and the Southern tower of St. Stephen's Cathedral suffered as well. At this time it was not customary to document damage to property that did not serve sacral purposes or was directly used by the aristocracy, and very little information has survived concerning the destruction and harm inflicted on ordinary citizens. Therefore, the fact that the death of nine people in a collapsing traveller's hostel was specifically mentioned in the chronicles suggests that the number of urban casualties cannot have been significant.
  At Zwentendorf, 40 km to the North of the presumed epicenter, the local parish church was so heavily damaged that it became unusable. (Exposure of this particular area to seismic risk played a significant role in the public debate that erupted in the 1970s concerning plans for the Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant.) Vaults and roofs collapsed at the Mauerbach Charterhouse West of Vienna, and many fortifications in Lower Austria (e.g., at Sieghartskirchen and Altlengbach) needed substantial repair.
  Apparently, the seismic event propagated far along the Vienna Transform fault but did not extend southward of the Alps. Strong shocks were reported from up to 300 km to the North of the epicenter, at places such as Abertham in the westernmost part of Bohemia and Frankenstein in Silesia where the slightly disfigured city tower can still be seen.
caption: The damaged city tower of Ząbkowice Śląskie
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