France: Natural Hazards and Catastrophes

France is a country that does not experience many earthquakes in a whole. Although, they did experience an earthquake this month on the 11th in the Western part of France in  Saint-Hilaire-de-Voust in the Vendée.  It was a 4.6 magnitude earthquake. The last major earthquake in France that caused fatalities was on the 11th of June of 1909 in the Provence Region, the magnitude of the earthquake was of 6.2. The regions with the strongest seismicity zones are those that are on the border of Spain and France, and Italy and France.   I learned that France has a tsunami and earthquake alert center called CENALT. CENALT not only detects tsunamis and earthquakes around France and the Mediterranian sea but also  Northeast Atlantic up to Greenland and the Arctic.  June 11, 1909. 6.2M earthquake. February 11, 2019. location of 4.6M earthquake. The regions with the strongest seismicity zones are those that are on the border of Spain and Franc...

France is located on the Eurasian Plate, it is separated from the boundary by Spain and Italy. Although France is fairly far from the boundary, it makes an exception because it has a subduction zone. Subduction zones are caused by two plates moving towards each other, one plate going under the other. This is when volcanoes are formed. The volcanoes in France are located in the Massif Central but, have been dormant for at least 10,000 years. France does not experience many earthquakes due to the fact that is far from the boundary but it does experience many floods, avalanches, and droughts.  Sources Keller Edward A., DeVecchio, D. E., Blodgett, R. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. 4th edition.  Pearson, 2014.  Dichamp, Bernard. “Presentation - Location.”  Chaîne Des Puys. Présentation Localisation , 2001, dichamp.pagesperso-orange.fr/englishversion/prehae.html.

A Natural Hazard is a Natural process. It becomes a hazard when it threatens human life and property. A disaster is when a natural process is in a defined area over a limited time span. There are at least 10 human deaths or more, and over 100 people are affected by it. A Catastrophe is an event that requires a great deal of money and along with it, years of recovery for the country.