Question 20557 — overseas

Summary

Mr. Jean-Luc Lagleize draws the attention of the Minister for Overseas Territories to the swarm of earthquakes in Mayotte and the urgent need to improve knowledge and prevent the risks associated with it. Intense seismic activity has affected the island of Mayotte since the beginning of May 2018. These hundreds of earthquakes form a swarm with epicenters grouped at sea, 50 to 60 kilometers east of the coast of Mayotte. The vast majority of These earthquakes are of low magnitude, but several events of moderate magnitude (maximum 5.9) were strongly felt by the population and damaged certain buildings. Faced with the dangers that these earthquakes represent, particularly in terms of seismic risk, tsunami, or underwater landslides, it could be relevant to permanently install a volcanological and seismological observatory in Mayotte, under the aegis of the Paris Institute of Globe Physics (IPGP), based on the model of the observatories existing for Martinique, Guadeloupe and the Piton de la Fournaise in Reunion. These volcanological and seismological observatories of the Antilles and Piton de la Fournaise in Réunion, in association with local universities and regional and departmental authorities, continuously observe with numerous instruments and numerous techniques (seismometers, deformation sensors, radon probes, magnetometers, ion chromatography, etc.), the humors of Soufrière, Montagne Pelée and Piton de la Fournaise. They thus make it possible, on the one hand, to announce future eruptions in advance to the authorities and the population concerned when possible, but also to obtain a better understanding of these phenomena by carrying out monitoring. science continues. In addition, they help reassure the population through prevention, information and management of possible crises, in conjunction with all local and national authorities. While the scientific community has just discovered the birth of a new underwater volcano, located 50 kilometers east of the island and at a depth of 3,500 meters, the creation of a volcanological and seismological observatory in Mayotte would make it possible to better understand the earthquakes observed on the island over the past year and to mobilize the scientific community to deepen and continue the understanding of this exceptional phenomenon, but also the Government and all ministries to take the necessary measures to better characterize and prevent the risks it represents. He therefore draws his attention to the swarm of earthquakes in Mayotte and to the urgent need to improve knowledge and prevent associated risks.

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