Quake shakes city in northeast France

A day after a 5.4 magnitude earthquake in the Ardèche damaged buildings and forced thousands to evacuate their homes, Strasbourg has been shaken by a tremor.

Tuesday afternoon's quake, which struck shortly after 14h35, had a magnitude of 3.3 according to the réseau national de surveillance sismique - which is based in the city.

It was, therefore, much less powerful than the one on Monday - but was still felt by people living in the vicinity of the capital of the Grand Est region.

It was also deeper than Monday's Ardèche quake, with the earth shifting some 6km underground. Reports say that its epicentre was below Robertsau, a residential area north of the city, with witnesses in the area saying that it felt like a lorry passing close by.

No injuries or damage have yet been reported.

The scale by which earthquakes are measured is logarithmic, meaning that an increase of one unit actually signals an earthquake 10 times’ as powerful - so a quake with a magnitude of 3 is 10 times’ stronger than one with a magnitude of 2.

According to reports adapted from US Geological Survey documents, quakes are considered to be minor from 3.0 to 3.9 on the scale. They are frequently felt by people in the region, but hardly ever cause any damage.