The drama has been making the titles for several days. On Friday March 28, 2025, a powerful earthquake of a magnitude of 7.7 on the Richter scale struck the center of Burma. As a result, thousands of potential deaths (at least 3,000 according to the last assessments) and cities in ruins, especially along the sagaing flaw, which crosses a country already marked by the civil war.
Can such a natural disaster occur in France? In overseas territories, yes. Martinique and Guadeloupe have already experienced devastating earthquakes in their history, comparable in terms of intensity to that of Burma. Far from those felt in mainland France, which is, you will see it, not spared it.
January 11, 1839 and February 8, 1843, black dates
January 11, 1839 remained engraved in the memory of Martinique, to the point that it is still commemorated each year on site. 186 years ago, an earthquake of a magnitude of 7 to 8 on the Richter scale hits the Caribbean island, with three waves of tremors. Fort-de-France is the hardest touched city. The houses collapse, almost all public buildings are destroyed.
Assessment, out of the 117,000 inhabitants of the island (including 65% slaves), deaths amount from 300 to 4,000 people. A huge variation in the estimate, due to the fact that slaves were not perceived as people at the time, but rather as furniture and were therefore not counted among the victims.
Barely a few years later, in 1843, it was Guadeloupe’s turn to be hard berth. A similar earthquake ravages the archipelago on February 8, destroying Pointe-à-Pitre and causing 3,000 victims, according to estimates of the time.
Even today, the overseas territories are not immune to shocks. In November 2007, for example, Martinique experienced the earthquake with the greatest magnitude ever recorded in France (with modern means): 7.4 on the Richter scale! If some material damage has been recorded, no victim is then to be deplored.
And in mainland France?
Unlike many overseas territories or Burma, which are at the junction of several major tectonic plates, including the Indian plaque and the Eurasian plaque, mainland France is not located in a area of strong seismic activity. What to be safe? No way.
Each year, hexagon knows about 4,000 seismic tremors. Low intensity tremors, the vast majority of which are not even felt by the population. So much so that we come to forget the large earthquakes that the country knew, starting with that of Lambesc (Bouches-du-Rhône), the most devastating ever recorded in mainland France since the installation of the first seismological stations, at the beginning of the XXe century.
The night of June 11, 1909, the Lambesc region, in Provence, was hit hard by an earthquake, the magnitude of which is estimated at 6.2 on the Richter scale. The shock is then felt in all this area in southeast of France, making rognes damage to Saint-Cannat, passing through Vernègues and Aix-en-Provence, where approximately 1,500 dwellings are damaged. Balance of disaster: 46 dead, around 250 injured and almost 90% of the destroyed Lambesc buildings. A record never exceeded since.
And in the world? According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the deadliest earthquake in history would have occurred in China on January 23, 1556. Of an estimated magnitude at 8, this earthquake would have struck the neighboring provinces of Shaanxi and Shanxi, killing or injuring to … 830,000 people. A disaster that would have reduced the population of the two provinces by around 60%.
