Nine people reported ‘acutely unsafe’ situations in their homes
The number of damage reports received after the two earthquakes at Loppersum and Hellum last week had increased to 600 by Thursday. The number of reports of ‘acutely unsafe’ situations has risen to 9. There were 66 reports from the immediate vicinity of Loppersum: the reports are generally within a radius of 5 km from the epicenter of the quake (2.7) on Tuesday.
That’s almost double compared to the number of reports at the same time last week, when there were 311 notifications of damage. It is still unclear whether the smaller quake at Siddeburen (force 1.8) in the early morning of Thursday, July 16, contributed to these additional damage reports, reports the GIC.
Nine reports of a potentially acutely unsafe situation were made. Of those nine, eight addresses have now been visited. Two of the reports were judged to be well-founded. One report came from a location about 40 km outside the epicenter, the second was about 20 km. Measures have been taken to ensure safety in the houses, and the last address will be visited in the coming days.
Anyone who detects damage to their house or building can report this damage to the Groningen Mining Damage Institute via website or telephone (+31 (0) 800 4444 111(. Anyone that suspects an acutely unsafe situation has arisen can also report this there. If there is an immediately life-threatening situation, it is always better to call the emergency number 112.
Recently more political will has been put behind the movement to ‘turn the taps off’, and stop the widescale extraction of gas from Northern Dutch gas fields, which has been going on since around the 1960’s. In recent years the quakes have led to the destruction and re-building of the village of Overschild, a Frisian man living in Groningen going on hunger-strike against the quakes; and the announcement of the winding-down of one gas extraction company, that is jointly owned by the Dutch government, Exxon Mobil, Shell, and others.
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