Groningen village Kantens hit by 1.7 magnitude earthquake

An earthquake with a magnitude of 1.7 occurred in Groningen on Friday night. According to an initial measurement, it had a magnitude of 1.9, but the KNMI later adjusted it to 1.7. The epicenter was near the village of Kantens in the municipality of Het Hogeland.

Recente aardbeving in Nederland: op 09-08-2024 om 18:00:20 UTC (20:00:20 NL) vond bij #Kantens een #aardbeving plaats met een magnitude van 1.9 (automatisch). https://t.co/DOAWmIFM6k pic.twitter.com/0FjLh5A68z

— KNMI (@KNMI) August 9, 2024

The quake hit at around 8 p.m. On X, a woman from the nearby hamlet of Doodstil said she felt the quake. According to her, it was a "big blow and shaking in the house."

On Friday evening, RTV Noord received 13 reports about the quake from residents in and outside the village. For example, Kantens resident Maura said she experienced the earthquake as a "humming coming from the ground" that evening.

In addition, Dirk and Wijke Hofman felt a tremendous shock outside Zandeweer: "The fear is back," they wrote.

The earthquake in Kantens is the first recorded in the province this month. In July, three quakes with magnitudes below 1.0 on the Richter scale hit the eastern province.

The earthquakes in Groningen are related to decades of gas extraction in the region.