“God's Handy-Worke in Wonders”—landslide Dynamics and Natural Hazard Implications of a Sixteenth Century Disaster∗

In 1584 a catastrophic debris avalanche (“Bergsturz”) occurred after an earthquake near Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Using a contemporary description this paper examines the scale and dynamics of landsliding. adding a new example to the few large rockslides whose parameters have been documented. The death toll (120) was greater than that provoked by the much larger and better known debris avalanches at Elm in Switzerland (1881) and Frank in Canada (1903).