Geography of Andorra

Andorra is a small, landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountain range and bordered by Spain and France.

[2] These are dissected by three narrow valleys in a Y shape that combine into one as the main stream, the Gran Valira river, leaves the country for Spain (at Andorra's lowest point of 840 m or 2,756 ft).

There is no historical record of any damaging earthquakes in Andorra, but the Andorran government has studied the possibility of a future one.

[6] The highest mountain is Coma Pedrosa, which rises to 2,942 m (9,652 ft) in the northwest of Andorra near the French and Spanish borders.

Andorra is drained almost entirely by a single basin whose main river, the Gran Valira, exits the country in the south near the Spain–Andorra road border crossing.

[7][8] The average annual temperature varies from 11 °C (52 °F) in Sant Julià de Lòria in the south, to 8 °C (46 °F) in La Massana in the centre, and to 2 °C (36 °F) in Arcalis in the north.

[13] At 19:00 on 8 February 1996, the avalanche fell on the village of Arinsal destroying or severely damaging many cars and buildings and hotels including the crest hotel the rocky mountain bar and above apartments the asterics bar and little damage to three blocks of flats that were under construction by a Russian company and still are under construction; evacuation of the residents and tourists in the village had been completed 1½ hours before the avalanche, and consequently there were no deaths, but the material and economic damages were large.

[13][14] Afterwards, the government ordered the construction of a snow dam across the Arinsal valley to stop future avalanches.

[11] The 1970 Pas de la Casa avalanche was a powder-snow avalanche that happened after a severe snowstorm left 2 metres (6.56 ft) of new snow atop the existing snow pack on the mountain slopes above Pas de la Casa.

[15] A landslide during the evening rush hour on 25 January 2008 deposited 4,000 m3 (5,232 cu yd) of loosely bound soil and rocks from the mountain slope above onto the main road CG-3 (Avinguda del Través de la Massana) between La Massana and Ordino, blocking it for three days, as well as completely covering an open-air car park and several parked cars.

The only damage was to property, and nobody was injured, but the residents of a block of flats adjacent to the landslide were evacuated as the building was deemed unsafe and it remains vacant.

The cause of the landslide was determined to be settlement of the earth due to inadequate ground reinforcement in the construction and excavation of the car park 30 years previously.

[20][21] An earthquake of magnitude 4.2 on 5 October 1999 in nearby Bagnères-de-Luchon (France) was widely felt in Andorra, causing public alarm.