earthquake damage

A total of 127 damage reports were received after a fracking earthquake in Groningen on Sunday morning, the temporary committee that handles mining damage in Groningen TCMG said. Six of the reports were of acutely dangerous damage. According to the committee, it is difficult to say how much of the reported damage is the direct result of the earthquake, NOS reports.

The Temporary Committee on Mining Damage in Groningen received 90 damage reports on Wednesday after a 3.4 magnitude earthquake hit the province near the village of Westerwijwerd early in the morning. There were also 12 reports of potentially acutely dangerous situations, NU.nl reports.

On Monday the claims desk specifically for handling damages caused by gas extraction in Groningen opened. The 30 employees of the claims desk is facing a major workload - around 12 thousand damage cases are waiting to be examined, because almost nothing has been done with them since March 31st last year, RTL Nieuws reports.

An independent committee will start by making an inventory and assessing the damage claims. The claims desk is part of a new damage protocol that Minister Eric Wiebes of Economic Affairs and Climate presented on January 31st.

Almost all parties in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, demanded that Minister Eric Wiebes of Economic Affairs and Climate come up with a protocol for handling earthquake damage caused by gas extraction in Groningen within two weeks. Wiebes will make haste on such a protocol, but can not give a time frame for when it will be ready, he said in a parliamentary debate on the matter on Tuesday, NOS reports.

The Public Prosecutor must investigate whether NAM was guilty of damaging housing, possibly creating life threatening situations, in the gas extraction area in Groningen, the Arnhem-Leeuwarden court ruled on Thursday, NOS reports.

The case was filed by the Groninger Bodem Beweging (GBB) an a number of individuals from the gas extraction area. The Groningen residents say they are dealing with, in some cases severe, damage to their homes caused by earthquakes that resulted from years of gas extraction. 

Seven farmers in the province of Groningen are filing a lawsuit against Dutch petroleum company NAM. They want more than 6 million euros in compensation for damage caused by gas drilling in the province, NOS reports.

Over the past months there have been numerous negotiations between NAM and the farmers, but to no avail, according to the broadcaster. NAM is only willing to compensate a percentage of the damage amount. One farmer was offered 40 thousand euros in compensation, while he claimed 1.3 million euros. 

The Dutch state is also "fully liable" for damage caused by gas extraction earthquakes in Groningen, the court in Assen ruled

Scientists at TU Delft sharply criticized the conclusions of a study into the risk of earthquake damage to homes and buildings on the edge of the Groningen gas field. The scientists found that the number of buildings examined in the study was too small to make a general statement or draw a conclusion

A new legislative amendment will shift the burden of proof on earthquake damage in Groningen from the residents to mining company NAM. This means that Groningen residents whose homes were damaged will soon no longer have to prove that the damage was caused by gas-extraction earthquakes, but NAM will have to prove that this is not the case.

Some 1,240 reports of damage following last week's earthquake in Hellum, Groningen were called in to the CVW, an organization set up to monitor safe living conditions in the region. The province has been plagued by an onslaught of tremors and earthquakes brought on by the extraction of natural gas there.

The dust had settled in Kathmandu by Tuesday, three full days after the 7.9 magnitude earthquake shook Nepal’s capital and other regions on April 25. The aftershocks grew less frequent and less severe as the city’s inhabitants grew more accustomed to their sporadic presence. Still, waves of devastation had already rippled into every nook of the metropolis.