List of earthquakes in France

This is a list of earthquakes in France and its overseas territories which directly impacted the country. Earthquakes are rare in mainland France but do occur. Within mainland France, the east of the country Alsace, Jura, Alps, the South-East Alpes-Maritimes, Provence and the Pyrenees are the most concerned, but the most seismically active French regions are parts of Overseas France (such as New Caledonia, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Wallis and Futuna and Réunion). Buildings there are often vulnerable, and much of the population lives at low elevations close to the coast and is exposed to tsunamis.

Earthquakes

Date	Location	Mag.	MMI	Deaths	Injuries	Damage / notes	Ref
2023-06-16	Western France	4.8 Mw 5.3–5.8 Ml			1	Some buildings damaged	[1]
2022-03-31	New Caledonia	7.0 Mw	IV			Small tsunami	[2]
2022-03-12	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	4.5 Mw	VI			Some buildings damaged	[3]
2021-06-12	Mauritius-Réunion region	6.7 Mw	III			No damage, but significantly large.	[4]
2021-02-10	New Caledonia	7.7 Mw	IV			Tsunami	[5]
2019-11-11	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	4.8 Mw	VI		4	Some houses damaged	[6][7]
2018-12-05	New Caledonia	7.5 Mw	VI			Moderate damage/tsunami	[8]
2018-08-29	New Caledonia	7.1 Mw	V			Small tsunami	[9][10]
2018-06-01	Mayotte	4.7 Mw	V		6	Part of an earthquake swarm	[11][12]
2018-05-15	Mayotte	5.9 Mw	V		3	Part of an earthquake swarm/Largest ever recorded in the area	[13][14]
2017-11-19	New Caledonia	7.0 Mw	VI			Small tsunami	[15]
2017-02-03	Martinique	5.8 Mw	V		1	Some damage	[16][17]
2016-04-28	Nouvelle-Aquitaine	3.9 Mw	IV			Minor damage	[18]
2007-11-29	Martinique	7.4 Mw	VII	6	402	Intermediate depth
2006-11-17	Midi-Pyrénées	4.7 Mw	V			Minor damage	[19]
2004-11-21	Guadeloupe	6.3 Mw	VIII	1	13
1996-07-15	Haute-Savoie	5.3 Mw			1	Chimney damage	[20]
1993-03-12	Wallis and Futuna	6.4 Mw	VII	5	20	Severe damage in Futuna	[21]
1991-02-13	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	3.8 Mw	IV	9		Deaths from avalanche	[22]
1982-01-06	Nouvelle-Aquitaine	4.4 Mw	IV			Minor damage	[23]
1967-08-13	Pyrénées-Atlantiques	5.7 Mw	VI	1	80	Severe damage	[24]
1946-06-25	Valais	6.1 Mw	VIII	1		3 deaths in Switzerland/Severe damage	[25][26]
1909-06-11	Provence	6.0 Mw	X	46	250	Severe damage
1887-02-23	Liguria	6.8–6.9 Mw	IX	600–3,000		Destructive tsunami
1843-02-08	Guadeloupe	8.5 Mw	IX	1,500–5,000
1839-01-11	Martinique	7.5–8.0 Mw	IX	390–4,000	28,975	Extreme damage
1799-01-25	Vendée	6.4–6.5	VIII
1682-05-12	Savoie		VIII
1678-09-02	Bouches-du-Rhône	6.0 Mw				Severe	[27]
1660-06-21	Hautes-Pyrénées	6.2 ML	VIII–IX	30			[28]
1580-04-06	Dover Straits	5.3–5.9 ML		Many
1428-02-02	Catalonia	6.7		Hundreds
1248-11-25	Savoie, Mont Granier			9,000		Deaths caused by landslide.	[29]
1227 February	Provence		X	5,000			[30]
Note: The inclusion criteria for adding events are based on WikiProject Earthquakes' notability guideline that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described also apply to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded.

References

1. "Rare 5.8 magnitude earthquake hits large parts of western France". France 24 (English). 17 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
2. "M 7.0 - 279 km ESE of Tadine, New Caledonia". earthquake.usgs.gov. Archived from the original on 2022-03-31.
3. "M 4.5 - 3 km S of Faverges, France". United States Geological Survey.
4. "M 6.7 - Mauritius - Reunion Region". United States Geological Survey. May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
5. "M 7.7 - southeast of the Loyalty Islands". United States Geological Survey. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
6. "M 4.8 - 5 km WNW of Rochemaure, France". United States Geological Survey.
7. Wei-Haas, Maya (15 November 2019). "Weird earthquake just put a crack in France". National Geographic. Archived from the original on May 31, 2021.
8. "M 7.5 - 166km ESE of Tadine, New Caledonia". earthquake.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2018-12-05.
9. "M 7.1 - 238km ESE of Tadine, New Caledonia". earthquake.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
10. "Small tsunami waves after New Caledonia quake |". Business Recorder. 2018-08-29. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
11. "M 4.7 - 40km ESE of Pamandzi, Mayotte". earthquake.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
12. "Mayotte: 36 séismes en une journée, 6 blessés légers". Linfo.re. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
13. "M 5.9 - 32km E of Pamandzi, Mayotte". earthquake.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
14. "Séisme record : trois blessés - Le journal de Mayotte". Le journal de Mayotte (in French). 2018-05-15. Archived from the original on 2018-05-16. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
15. "M 7.0 - 85km ENE of Tadine, New Caledonia". United States Geological Survey. November 19, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
16. "M 5.8 - 59km ENE of Sainte-Marie, Martinique". United States Geological Survey. February 3, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
17. "Important séisme vendredi après-midi en Martinique" [Important earthquake Friday afternoon in Martinique] (in French). Francetvinfo. February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
18. "M 3.9 - 6 km WSW of Châtelaillon-Plage, France". United States Geological Survey.
19. "M 4.7 - 3 km NNE of Pierrefitte-Nestalas, France". United States Geological Survey.
20. "Annecy tremble: la faute à la faille. Le séisme n'a fait qu'un blessé léger mais de nombreux dégâts".
21. "M 6.4 - Fiji region". earthquake.usgs.gov.
22. "M 3.8 - 6 km S of Claviere, Italy". United States Geological Survey.
23. "M 4.4 - 6 km S of Saint-Palais, France". United States Geological Survey.
24. "M 5.7 - 1 km W of Arette, France". United States Geological Survey.
25. "Sierre 1946". seismo.ethz.ch. Swiss Seismological Service. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
26. "M 6.2 - 2 km WNW of Kandersteg, Switzerland". United States Geological Survey.
27. "Sismotectonique de la faille de la Moyenne Durance".
28. "Le Reseau de Surveillance Sismique des Pyrénées". rssp.irap.omp.eu. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
29. P. Alexandre, Les séismes en Europe occidentale de 394 à 1259. Nouveau catalogue critique., Publ. Observatoire royal de Belgique, Bruxelles, 1990.
    J. Berlioz, « L'effondrement du Mont-Granier en Savoie (fin 1248) », dans Le Monde alpin et rhodanien, 1987, p. 7-68.
30. "Tremblements de terre en Provence".