Thousands of homes need reinforcement after earthquake damage

A few hundred to possibly thousands of homes in the Groninger earthquake zone need large-scale reinforcements. That's the conclusion that NAM (Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappy B.V.) draws in a report to minister Henk Kamp. According to a different report the value of the homes have not decreased more than elsewhere.The report on the reinforcement of Groninger building structures in the area where natural gas is extracted, is one of eleven investigating natural gas extraction and the effects. The minister of Economic affairs wants all the results in by December 1st. Before the end of the year he wants to decide whether natural gas extraction activities need to decrease or not.

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Markus Schroeder
Flickr Arup, a company that performs worldwide studies on buildings in earthquake zones, was contacted by the NAM for research on preventive measures to strengthen buildings against earthquakes. Arup set up a database with 65,000 buildings in a 15 km radius around Huizinge, a village that suffered the worst quake so far,  of 3.6,  last year August. Minister Kamp forwarded the NAM-report to parliament on Thursday, accompanied by some other reports. One of them about value decrease of properties in the quake zone, which had already been partly released in July. Researchers insist there has not been any value decrease to properties, but the mayor, Albert Rodenboog, questioned that from the start. In his accompanying letter to parliament Minister Kamp writes that he wants to keep monitoring property values. He will also be talking to local authorities and brokers.