Nearly 600 damage reports have been submitted following the Groningen earthquake.
Nearly 600 people reported damage after the earthquake on Friday in Groningen, according to the monitoring authority, which confirmed the rapid increase in reports from various parts of the province.
The Instituut Mijnbouwschade Groningen (IMG – Groningen Mining Damage Institute) reported that the number reached 593 reports, compared to only 246 reports on the day of the earthquake. The institute also received 25 warnings about potentially dangerous situations, and in two cases, immediate action was taken, according to spokesperson Siebe Kuijlen.
The earthquake occurred near the village of Zeerijp with a magnitude of 3.4 on the Richter scale, making it the third strongest earthquake recorded in Groningen province, and it was felt by residents in wide areas.
The governor of the province, René Paas, described the earthquake as a physical and psychological blow, noting that it 'shattered the hope that stopping gas extraction would prevent strong earthquakes,' which has rekindled anxiety among the residents.
The Netherlands had closed the main gas fields in Groningen in 2023 after decades of tremors related to extraction. Since the 1980s, the region has experienced more than 1,600 earthquakes, causing damage to around 85,000 buildings and leading to long-term instability among residents.
In 2023, a parliamentary committee concluded that the residents of Groningen had been systematically ignored by the government and energy companies, emphasizing that financial gains remained the priority despite the extraction of gas causing increasingly damaging earthquakes.