One of the most powerful earthquakes of the past 20 years occurred in France on Friday, June 16, 2023. The earthquake was felt in several departments in the West.
The earth shook this Friday, June 16, 2023, at 6:38 p.m., in France. It would be the strongest earthquake recorded in the country since 2002. The quake was greater than magnitude 5 on the Richter scale, according to the French Central Seismological Bureau. Several departments located in the west of the country felt the shock. Among them, Deux-Sèvres, department of the epicenter, Charente-Maritime, Ille-et-Vilaine, Mayenne or Vienne. The epicenter of this earthquake would be located between La Rochelle and Niort, 28 kilometers south-west of the latter town, in the Courçon sector, reports the Deux-Sèvres prefecture.
“At this time, a lightly injured [in Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon ndlr.] was taken care of by the emergency services. Numerous material damages were reported in the south-west of the Deux-Sèvres department”, indicates again the prefecture, which specifies that “some buildings may have been affected” and evokes falling rocks or even cracks. According to France Bleu Poitou, part of the city center of Niort would have been cordoned off, due to the fall of pieces of stone. Also in Vienne, the firefighters told France Télévisions that they had been contacted for numerous “building cracks”.
If the prefecture of Charente-Maritime does not deplore any casualties, much material damage has already been reported. 1,100 homes were left without power as a result of this earthquake. It looks like a power line was hit. The Enedis teams are on deck. Cracks also appeared on the buildings. Franceinfo even reports that in La Laigne, roofs would have collapsed. Also in Charente-Maritime, “big damage” was noted by the mayor of Courçon-d’Aunis on the church of the town. At the microphone of franceinfo, the mayor of La Rochelle, himself, reported a “rather significant vibration of the ground for at least thirty seconds”, specifying that the earthquake had generated a “rumble”. Note that the prefectures of Deux-Sèvres and Charente-Maritime call not to overload the emergency telephone lines, unless, of course, there is a major emergency.
