Earthquakes hit east and west
Côte d'Azur and Charente-Maritime residents feel tremors - although police report no damage
AN earthquake in the Alpes de Haute-Provence was felt on the Côte d'Azur with pompiers receiving many calls from residents asking what was happening.
Measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale, the quake caused no damage when it struck at 23.37 last night. It lasted for about five seconds and residents reported being shaken from side to side.
The Bureau Central de Sismologie Français said it was followed an hour later by an aftershock measuring 3.7. The epicentre was about 12km north-east of the town of Barcelonnette.
Police in the Riviera capital of Nice - around 130km away - said they had received more than 200 calls and newspaper Nice Matin said that pompiers in Alpes-Maritimes, the Var and Alpes de Haute-Provence had received double that.
Hours earlier, at 4.51 on Sunday morning, an earthquake was also felt in Charente-Maritime. The epicentre of the 3.8 quake was Marennes, north of the mouth of the Gironde, and was felt by residents in a 40km radius in Poitou-Charentes.
The Côte d'Azur quake is the fourth in the past year, with a tremor of around 5 being felt in the area of Menton on January 27, and two others last July 26 and 7.
In 2009 the town of Aquila in central Italy was hit by an earthquake measuring 5.8 which destroyed hundreds of buildings and killed more than 300 people.
