Fresh details emerge about cost and impact of French earthquake

The cost of the earthquake that hit France last month could be as much as €350million, new figures show.

The estimate and damage report came from the public insurance company la Caisse centrale de réassurance (CCR).

It also said that it would take care of “at least half” of the cost.

The earthquake hit western France on June 16 at 18:38. Its epicentre was in the commune of Cram-Chaban, between La Rochelle and Niort.

National earthquake monitoring networks le Réseau national de surveillance sismique (Renass) and the Bureau central sismologique français (BCSF) estimated its magnitude at 5.3-5.8 on the Richter scale.

There were around 30 aftershocks in the three days that followed. The quake was the most severe in the region in the past 50 years, since a quake of similar magnitude in Oléron in 1972.

The CCR said that the quake was the most severe across the whole of France since that of Teil in 2019.

Read more: Thousands evacuated and homes damaged in French quake

Structural damage

Estimates suggest that more than 5,000 buildings were affected, of which several hundred sustained severe damage.

In a statement, the CCR said: “In the affected communes, several buildings were damaged from a structural point of view, with chimneys and even some walls collapsing.”

The communes affected include four in Charente-Maritime (La Laigne, Cram-Chabran, Courçon-d’Aunis, and Benon), and three in Deux-Sèvres (Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon, Saint-Hilaire-La-Palud, and Niort).

The CCR said the cost of the damage would be “gradually re-evaluated according to the post-earthquake work, which is taking place”.

The new estimate comes after expert insurance cabinet Saretec initially put the cost at between €150million-200million.

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