Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes

Markus Haeringprobably did n’t think to emulate Lex Luthor when his party ’s drilling triggered a serial publication of minor earthquake . But the geothermal energy mogul is up on vicious charges for his earth - shake effort .

In 2006 , Haering ’s company was drilling in Basel , Switzerland , as part of a projection to exchange heat in the underground rocks into electricity . But Swiss authorization tear that the drilling touch off the major shift channel that runs underneath the city , triggering a series of small earthquakes . Although the most intense of these quakes only rated a 3.4 on the Richter Scale and result in no injuries , the Swiss government claims Haering ’s oil production caused $ 9 million worth of property damage . Furthermore , they claim there is a 15 percent fortune that , had the boring continued , it would have set off a major quake that could have caused $ 500 million in damage .

If Haering is found guilty of advisedly triggering the quakes , he could be lag for up to five years . But this would n’t be the first fourth dimension human actions led to shaky ground . Wired listsfive ways mankind can cause earthquakes of their very own , include example of a fistful of other accidental Lex Luthors .

Family Residence Damage Tornado Stlois