11 June 1909, the earth trembles in Provence
The most violent earthquake in France in the 20th century
On June 11, 1909, at 9 p.m., the earth began to tremble about 50 kilometers north of Marseille ravaging Lambesc, epicenter of the earthquake, followed about 20 minutes later by a second tremor.
A magnitude estimated at 6, the earthquake killed 46 people, injured 250 large numbers of homeless people and ravaged several surrounding villages.
If Lambesc is the epicenter it is the Provencal country of the Trevress that was the seat of the most violent tremors. In this massif, during the few seconds that the tremors lasted, whole villages were destroyed. Collapsed facades, collapsed bell towers killing in their fall more than 40 people in six villages: Lambesc, Rognes, Saint-Cannat, Pélissanne, Puy-Sainte Reparade and Vernègues.
A SUSTAINABLE ZONE
Beyond the epicentral zone, the earthquake affected a very wide area in France: no less than twenty departments observed the vibrations, violently as in the Bouches-du-Rhône, the Vaucluse, the Var and the Gard or more slightly as in the Pyrénées-Orientales or the Haute-Loire.
The earthquake was felt abroad in Italy, in the regions of Liguria and Piedmont, and in Spain as far as Barcelona and in the following months, there were no less than 20 replicas.
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