Earthquakes near Nîmes through history

None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.2 on June 11, 1909 (Vernegues,Charleval,La Roque D'antheron). The deadliest was not the strongest: an earthquake in 1227 (Lambesc, High Alps,Provence), for which NOAA records 5,000 deaths. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 5,040 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.8 on November 11, 2019 (5 km WNW of Rochemaure, France). NOAA’s record here begins in AD 470 with an earthquake (Vienne,Vivarais,Dauphine,Velay,Forez). NOAA lists one tsunami that began within 100 km of Nîmes.

• November 11, 2019Earthquake · M 4.85 km WNW of Rochemaure, FranceUSGS · NOAA NCEI
• June 11, 1909Earthquake · M 6.2Vernegues,Charleval,La Roque D'antheron · 40 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• December 17, 1798TsunamiAigeus-MortesNOAA NCEI
• 1227EarthquakeLambesc, High Alps,Provence · 5,000 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
• AD 470EarthquakeVienne,Vivarais,Dauphine,Velay,ForezNOAA NCEI

• An event counts for Nîmes when it began within 100 km of its centre, or 200 km for an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. Damage can reach further.
• USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
• NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
• Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
• A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
• Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history