Vernègues - tremblement de terre du 11 juin 1909 (1)

The 1909 Provence earthquake occurred on June 11 in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. Measuring 6.2 on the

surface wave magnitude The surface wave magnitude (M_s) scale is one of the magnitude scales used in seismology to describe the size of an earthquake. It is based on measurements of Rayleigh surface waves that travel along the uppermost layers of the Earth. This ma ...

scale, it is the largest ever recorded earthquake in

metropolitan France Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the European ...

. A total of 46 people died, another 250 were injured, and approximately 2,000 buildings were damaged. The most damaged communes were

Salon-de-Provence Salon-de-Provence (, ; oc, label= Provençal Occitan, Selon de Provença/Seloun de Provènço, ), commonly known as Salon, is a commune located about northwest of Marseille in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d' ...

Vernègues Vernègues (; oc, Lo Vernegue) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône ''département'' in southern France. The commune is made up of two villages: Vernègues and Cazan. On 11 June 1909 an earthquake killed two villagers and destroyed the cas ...

Lambesc Lambesc () is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southern France. In 2018, it had a population of 9,799. Lambesc is located in the heart of Provence at the foot of the Côtes mountain ra ...

Saint-Cannat Saint-Cannat (; oc, Sant Canat) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. History The village was named after Canus Natus, a fifth century Roman Catholic Saint, who was a Roman clergyman born with white hair, a quir ...

and Rognes. Fourteen people died in Rognes, which was half destroyed, especially the houses on the flanks of the hill Le Foussa. People were relocated under tents on another hill (Le Devin) and near the primary school. The main shock occurred at 9:15pm. If the earthquake had happened an hour later, more people would have been in bed, and more casualties would have been recorded."The Provence Earthquake of 11th June 1909 (France): A New Assessment of Near Field Effects", from ''Seismic Hazard in Mediterranean Regions: Proceedings of the Summer School Organized in Strasbourg, France July 15 – August 1, 1986'' (Springer, 1988), p. 383 The Vernègues castle and most of the houses in Vernègues were destroyed. Two people died in the village, which was later rebuilt at a lower altitude.

References

External links

Website about the earthquake

Webpage about the earthquake
{{in lang, fr
Pictures of the aftermath of the earthquake in Saint-Cannat
1909 Provence

Earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

Bouches-du-Rhône June 1909 events 1909 disasters in France

See also

References

Further reading

External links