Online Desk: A 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit western France at 6:38 p.m. local time (1638 GMT) on Friday, the French Central Seismological Bureau (FCSB) announced. According to the FCSB, the epicenter was determined to be 28 km to the southwest of the city of Niort, in the Deux-Sevres department, western France.

Calling the earthquake “one of the strongest earthquakes recorded in metropolitan France”, French Minister for the Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, Christophe Bechu, said that the evaluation of the damage is being conducted. “So far, one minor injury has been taken care of by the emergency services,” he said on social media.

In the neighboring Charente-Maritime prefecture, numerous material damages such as cracks have been reported on buildings, but no casualty has been reported. “1,100 homes are currently without electricity, and a high voltage line has been affected”, the prefecture added.