An earthquake lasting 7 seconds was felt at 11:40 PM on February 26, 2012, in Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes. The residents of the Côte d’Azur are accustomed to very low-intensity earthquakes, but this one appears to be of greater magnitude.
According to the data collected by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center, the earthquake started precisely at 11:37 PM, 5 km from Crévoux* in the Hautes-Alpes. This explains why some people in Isola 2000 felt the tremors.
The earthquake had a magnitude of 4.9. An earthquake of this intensity is classified as “light” according to the Richter scale. It is characterized by noticeable shaking of objects inside houses and clattering noises, but significant damage is generally uncommon.
The last earthquake in the vicinity occurred on February 2, 2012, at 10:44 PM but had a magnitude of only 2.2. One must go back to 1997 to find a similar magnitude in this mountainous region of the Hautes-Alpes.
*The commune of Crévoux is located between Barcelonnette and Briançon in the Hautes-Alpes.
