Following a Friday evening earthquake, about 170 residents of La Laigne in western France have been relocated.
From Bordeaux in the south-west to Rennes in the north-west, people felt the earthquake, which was thought to have been between magnitudes 5 and 5.
Numerous buildings were deemed uninhabitable and homes, schools, and churches suffered damage.
France rarely experiences earthquakes of greater than magnitude 5, with the most recent one occurring in November 2019.
Following the tremor on Friday, two people were hurt in Deux-Sevres.
The area of Charente-Maritime to the north of Bordeaux was particularly hard hit.
Didier Marcaillou, the head of the local fire department in La Laigne, issued a warning that the church had become "totally unusable," and a top regional government official claimed that the majority of the homes in the town center were also damaged. .
Nicolas Basselier stated, "As a precaution, the school will have to be closed.".
The woman who could no longer live in her home broke down in tears as she told local television station BFMTV. Christine, the woman, said, "I wouldn't wish this on anyone.". You can fit your entire hand through the wall crack in my son's room. ".
The earthquake was called "unusual" by the prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, who also offered her support to anyone "who may have been concerned.".
Naturally, we'll make sure that everyone has access to rehousing, said Ms. Borne.
Gerald Darmanin, the interior minister, announced that the government would start an expedited process for identifying natural disasters to help assess building damage quickly.
