Strengthening earthquake crisis management in France through international post-earthquake lessons

This paper mobilises the theoretical frameworks of policy transfer and organisational learning to analyse French and international post-exercise and post-seismic after-action reviews. Following the initial emergency phase, post-earthquake recovery involves long-term, multi-sectoral challenges - such as damage assessment, infrastructure restoration, debris management or reconstruction - that require enhanced coordination among diverse stakeholders. While high-seismicity countries continuously refine their crisis management systems through empirical lessons learned, nations with moderate seismic activity, like France, have not had to test their civil protection systems against major domestic earthquakes in recent history. Consequently, their preparedness mainly relies on simulation exercises. However, recent moderate earthquakes in mainland France (2019 and 2023) revealed unexpected operational limitations not captured by exercises, highlighting an imperfect understanding of seismic impacts in regions where the phenomenon is rare.

Adopting a narrative review approach, this study constructs an interpretive synthesis that bridges local “grey literature” - aligned with national institutional specificities - with global academic literature on large-scale earthquakes. The analysis identifies and contextualises transferable insights tailored to the French seismic crisis management system. By overcoming the limitations of purely simulation-based learning and avoiding uncritical policy borrowing, this study establishes a framework to enhance national capacity. Ultimately, it provides a valuable opportunity to identify critical tipping points beyond which standard coping capacities are overwhelmed, enabling a strategic shift from routine disaster management to resilient crisis management.