A deadly earthquake in mainland France would not be a surprise. Thanks to this map put in place by the authorities, everyone can measure the risks at home.
You may not have known it, but earthquakes are recorded every day in France, according to the National Seismic Monitoring Network. Fortunately, they are all located in very low magnitudes. This explains why these tremors are not felt by the population, but only by the sophisticated machines of seismologists. However, certain regions are particularly exposed to a much more significant seismic event.
Thus, three regions are affected by an average level of seismic risk with regard to the scale implemented by the Ministry of Ecological Transition. A map was put in place to determine “five zones of seismicity, ranging from very low to strong”. The average level corresponding to the fourth highest.
And the risks in certain places in France are in reality considerable: if earthquakes occurred in some of these identified areas, state services estimate that these “major earthquakes could cause several hundred victims in mainland France and several thousand in the West Indies.”
The last major earthquake in France occurred on June 16, 2023 between La Rochelle and Niort. With a magnitude estimated between 5.3 and 5.8, the tremor slightly injured one person, but significant material damage was recorded. The most significant earthquake since 1900 occurred in Lambesc (Bouches-du-Rhône) in 1909 with 46 deaths. In the eyes of the ministry, the Alps, Alsace and the Pyrenees today constitute the areas most at risk.
The Géoportail map, a public authority service, allows you to find out if you live in a risk area, by entering your address in the dedicated search engine.
France is therefore vulnerable, to a certain extent, to earthquakes. And particularly in the Antilles and notably in Guadeloupe and Martinique. These regions are classified as maximum seismic zones. A disaster scenario exists on site, it is the “Big One”. This very strong earthquake is feared in several places around the world and these French islands are one of them.
In 1843, a similar event occurred in the Lesser Antilles region. The outcome? More than 3,000 dead and thousands injured. A report from the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices, cited by Franceinfo, carried out a simulation of this Big One of 1843 with the conditions of 2023. Such an earthquake would then cause more than 100,000 deaths “on the whole of the Antilles.
