An earthquake registering 5.0 on the Richter scale has struck the southwest of France near the city of La Rochelle. The quake hit at 08:45 local time at a depth of 15 kilometers. Writing on Twitter, Laurent Simon from Bordeaux said the earthquake was “a very small one,” but it was an “interesting feeling.” Sophie Thurlow mentioned that she woke up to her “room shaking.”
The epicenter of the quake was eight kilometers southeast of La Rochelle, which is a port on the Bay of Biscay with a population of just over 75,000. There are no reports of any damage so far. On Monday, a small earthquake struck Austria near the capital Vienna. The quake measured 4.4 on the Richter scale. Earthquakes in the area are rare, but geologists have warned that Vienna risks being struck by a large quake in the future. An active fault line runs deep under the Vienna Basin, which covers the city’s area, as well as parts of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. FULL REPORT
