LOn Monday October 7, at 9:34 a.m., an earthquake was recorded around Caen, in Normandy. The epicenter was in the town of Cambes-en-Plaine, 4 kilometers deep.
The magnitude recorded was 2.7 on the Richter scale, indicate our colleagues from Paris-Normandy. “It’s very small, a very weak shock,” says engineer Christophe Sira to France 3, adding that “there should be no damage to the buildings.”
Even if the seismic intensity was very low, this did not prevent some local residents from feeling like an explosion or a roar under their feet, as evidenced by the testimonies published on franceseisme.fr by residents.
Fortunately, there are “no real risks” according to Daniel Amorese, seismologist at the University of Caen, interviewed by our colleagues from France 3 Calvados. He details that “the west of the region rests on ancient faults, which can cause earthquakes”. “The risk is higher than zero, but it is not huge compared to regions like the Pyrenees or the Alps, which are in contact with plate boundaries,” he explains.
And in the North and Pas-de-Calais?
In France, five levels of seismicity exist, determined by article D.568-81 of the Environmental Code, ranging from very low (1) to high (5). In the North and Pas-de-Calais, the level of seismicity is low, except around Cambrai and Valenciennes where it is moderate (3).
In January 2023, a magnitude 3 earthquake shook the town of Rieulay, near Douai. Its low magnitude and the location far from its epicenter did not allow real tremors to be felt.
