A new hazard map will be redefined, said the inter-ministerial delegate for reconstruction. Areas will now be exposed to risks of flooding, marine submersion when they were not there before. Let them be in the region of 50 geometric steps. Will residents be expropriated? If yes, how ?
Expropriation for major natural risk: the principles
According to article L-561-1 of the environment code which applies to Saint-Martin, “when a foreseeable risk (…) of torrential or rapidly rising floods or of marine submersion seriously threatens human lives, the State may declare the expropriation by itself, the municipalities or their groupings, of goods exposed to this risk, under the conditions provided for by the code of expropriation for reasons of public utility ”.
A specific expropriation procedure known as "major natural risks" was created by the Barnier law of February 2, 1995 and supplemented by the law of July 30, 2003 on major technological and natural risks. It specifies an important condition: the procedure can only be initiated "if the means of safeguarding and protecting the population prove more costly than compensation for expropriation". However, if these works are considered too complex, expropriation will be considered as the only way to save human lives. This was judged by the Council of State in 1999 when a landslide threatened the municipality of Saint-Barthélémy-de-Séchilienne in Isère. In addition, in this specific case, he considered that the magnitude of the risk could "make insufficient the time necessary for triggering the alert and for the complete evacuation of people in the places exposed". If in Saint-Martin, alerts are given early enough in the event of a cyclone and the evacuation of populations can be organized within the correct deadlines, these devices still need to be tested in the event of a tsunami alert. (Illustrative photo. Source: www.soualigapost.com)
To be continued: what is the procedure.
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