During the night of Monday to Tuesday, a 3.4 magnitude earthquake was felt by many residents in the Grésivaudan valley. The epicenter was located near Sainte-Marie-d’Alloix, in Isère.
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The earth trembled between Chambéry and Grenoble. On the night of Monday, 5 to Tuesday, May 6, several residents of the Grésivaudan valley felt a jolt under their feet. An earthquake of magnitude 3.4 on the Richter scale was recorded in the departments of Isère and Savoy.
Some residents with restless sleep may have struggled to go back to sleep last night. Around 3:40 am, an earthquake initially valued at a magnitude of 3.6 then “revised at 3.4“was felt between Chambéry and Grenoble, indicates the French central office office (BCSF-Renass).
“At least forty of our seismometers have recorded the earthquake“, adds Sophie Lambotte, seismologist at the BCSF-Renass. Analyzes are still in progress to refine the power of the earthquake as well as its location.
But according to the first elements and the hundred testimonies collected by the Institute, the epicenter would be “Near Sainte-Marie-d’Alloix“In Isère. On social networks, the inhabitants of the Grésivaudan valley ensure that they have heard”Craching noises“In Voreppe, or even have been”Awakened with a start“In Crêts-en-Beledonne.
According to the French seismological central office, the earthquake could be felt within a radius of “30 to 40 kilometers“From Isère to Savoy, the inhabitants were slightly shaken by this earthquake.”Near the epicenter, the noise was able to look like an explosion, explains Sophie Lambote, And when we move away a little, some were able to perceive a rumble“.
But the earthquake this night was not powerful enough to cause “damage to the frame“, assures the seismologist.”It is not surprising to have earthquakes in the Grenoble-Chambéry axis. It is a seismic area with known flaws along the Belledonne massif“, Specifies Sophie Lambotte.
According to the Sismalp network, the Belledonne fault, which has generated this earthquake, has been the source of around 3,500 events since 1989. But “a large number of these earthquakes are not felt by the population“says Mickaël Langlais, research engineer in the laboratory of theInstitute of Earth Sciences based in Grenoble.
In 2012, an earthquake of magnitude 2.7 whose epicenter was located inu Col des Mouilles, in the Belledonne massif, had crossed the territory.
But lhe last powerful earthquake felt in the Alps date of “1962, in the Vercors“, Recalls the seismologist Sophie Lambotte. On April 25, 1962, the village of Corrençon-en-Vercors had woken up shaken. Significant damage had been caused by the event with even Repercussions to Lyon and Grenoble.
