About 40 calls were received by emergency services less than an hour after the tremor struck at about 1:10 am (2310 GMT Monday), police in the Swiss city of Basel said.

An observatory based in the eastern French city of Strasbourg said it measured the quake at 3.7 on the Richter scale in the city of Mulhouse.

There were no reports of damage but emergency services said they received about 15 calls from worried residents.

Tremors of a similar magnitude occur about once or twice a year in Switzerland, the Swiss Seismological Institute said.

On February 23, an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale and centred near the eastern French city of Besancon was also felt along the French-Swiss border region, but also caused no damage.

TERRA.WIRE