Groningen province hit by another overnight earthquake

There was another fracking earthquake in Groningen overnight. The quake hit near Hellum at 02:45 a.m. on Thursday and measured a 1.8 on the Richter scale, according to meteorological institute KNMI.

This is the second earthquake in Groningen this week. A 2.7 magnitude quake happened near Loppersum on Tuesday afternoon - the strongest earthquake in the province so far this year. The institute form mining damage in Groningen IMG told NOS that it received over 260 damage reports after Tuesday's quake. 

The quakes in Groningen are caused by gas mining in the province. Last year, a total of 87 earthquakes happened in the gas fracking area, eleven of which had a magnitude of over 1.5. The government has drastically reduced gas extraction in the province and plans to halt it completely sometime in the second half of 2022.