A very unusual tremor scared the population of much of the west of the country on Friday June 16, around 6:30 p.m. A “very strong” earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.3 to 5.8 according to the Network National Seismic Surveillance (Renass) and the French Central Seismological Bureau (BCSF), was felt by the inhabitants. Especially in the epicenter area: the town of Cram-Chaban (Charente-Maritime), located halfway between La Rochelle and Niort. From Bordeaux to Rennes via Limoges or La Rochelle, many residents felt the earth shake and multiplied calls for firefighters.
An aftershock of “magnitude 5 followed overnight at 4:27 a.m., in the same sector of Deux-Sèvres”, indicated the prefecture on Saturday morning in a press release. In mainland France, the last earthquake with a magnitude greater than 5 dates back to 2019 in the Drôme. “In the region, the last d A fairly similar magnitude dates back to 1972 in Oléron. So for the western region, it’s really an important event” explains to AFP Jérôme Vergne, seismologist at the Earth and Environment Institute in Strasbourg. On average, there is an earthquake every 10 years in metropolitan France.
Weakened buildings to be evacuated
In Deux-Sèvres, “a lightly injured person was taken care of by the emergency services”, according to a report from the prefecture. But this very rare phenomenon in the region still entails risks, since several buildings were damaged. The firefighters “carry out reconnaissance actions, to respond to calls and check the condition of the buildings, in particular those weakened during the first earthquake on Friday evening”, indicated the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres. “Be careful and stay away from buildings that seem fragile to you,” she advises. More than a thousand homes were also without electricity in Charente-Maritime at the start of the evening, a high voltage line having been affected.
The authorities of the two departments report material damage to buildings, mainly cracks and falling rocks. In the town of La Laigne, a town of 500 inhabitants very close to the epicenter, the church tower has major cracks and a dozen houses have been deemed “uninhabitable” by firefighters because of cracks on the walls. carriers, according to AFP. Almost all the inhabitants of the village were evacuated, according to France info. These home inspections were to continue in the two departments this Saturday with the reinforcement of building experts from neighboring departments.