50 years of natural gas extraction is hitting back
Translated by Thomas Ansell
The North of Groningen has been hit by yet another earthquake, with the village of Zeerijp in the Gemeente Eemsdelta the epicentre this time. The quake of 2.5 magnitude hit the village at about 04:59 this morning, reports RTV Noord.
The quake has been confirmed by the KNMI, and thanks to the timing of the quake various local news outlets had tens of reports of the quake as it occurred.
“A really unfortunate way to be woken up”, says Seraja from Loppersum. “Shaking walls and a rattling roof”, says Pieter from Stedum. “You could hear it coming”, says Ger from Loppersum.
The quake is just one of tens that have hit Groningen and Friesland in the last decade or so; mainly due to the over-extraction of natural gas from under Northern Dutch soil. According to KNMI data, the number of ‘induced’ earthquakes with a strength of over 1.5 magnitude had peaks in 2011 and 2013.
In 2020 there were a total of 69 quakes recorded, of which 16 were over 1.5 magnitude.
Photo by Oleg Stepanov on Unsplash
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