Almost every house has damage, has been reinforced or completely newly built. The village of Overschild is pretty much a symbol of the earthquake problem in Groningen and the 526 residents also notice this because of the many day trippers who regularly visit.
,,Our disaster, your outing?”, is written on artful signs at the entrance to Overschild. In the village, the construction workers vans drive back and forth, a large part of the houses are in the fences or struts, but the many new houses with solar panels are particularly striking.
On sunny days it is also busy with ‘disaster tourism’ and many residents can tell how visitors look very cheeky inside or enter the yard. “Let’s see what you’ve made with our tax dollars,” they said.
It all seems better than it is, says 75-year-old Rob Gramberg, who shows his brand new wooden Swedish home on the Kanaalweg with mixed feelings. New, well insulated, solar panels on the roof. “But what a hassle we had. The uncertainty, the years of waiting, and of course you didn’t ask for this. Many people here have also invested a lot of their own money in order to get something nice in return.”
Some putty and a paint in meters long cracks
In the outlying area, Ulbe (61) and Tessa (47) Noordenbos live in their farm on the Graauwedijk, where a wall of a barn fell down last year. That wall had just been assessed as safe. Ulbe shows a thick report assessing the damage to the farm. With photos of centimeter-wide cracks, more than a meter long, it is assessed: a few bricks out and in, paint and filler, cost 600 euros.
They have been in this misery for twelve years. “I think the entire farm is a total loss, but we don’t get the money for demolition and new construction, because all damage has been assessed in this way. A little paint, some putty, done.”
Those strange differences between residents and houses is also something that bothers Petra Stok (55). She and her husband Wilfred live in a fairly new house at the crossroads in the middle of the village. “It is just 24 years old and we never had any damage. But it still needs to be strengthened. Only how, that takes forever.”
She points to the side wall and shows a new foundation they built next to it. ,,We were told to put a bookend against this wall.” She looks further down the street. ,,One gets completely new construction, the other renovation. We sometimes shake here in our house because so much is being demolished. How can you think about the future and that debt of honor, if this damage and reinforcement have not yet been dealt with?”
‘We live fantastically, I wish that for everyone’
Jan (70) and Jannie (66) Hammenga have been living happily in their newly built house for two years now. They too had to move mountains to get it done. “But we live wonderfully now. I wish that on everyone”, says Jan.
The couple sympathizes with residents who are still waiting for recovery, reinforcement or new construction. “I find that inequality difficult. Why should we get a nice new house, and someone else wouldn’t? Why do they have to fight for that?”, says Janny. “A lot of people can’t get a good contractor. They have to help them. Not one and not the other.”
Dianne Blaauw (47) lives just outside Overschild. In 2016, she appeared to be eligible for the first batch of homes to be rebuilt. But according to the NCG, her house was a farm, so she was left out – even though the property had not actually been for 40 years. “But they couldn’t just lift our file and put it on another pile. The whole street got a new house, but we didn’t,” says Blaauw. She had to wait patiently for her turn.
But in 2023, she’s still in misery. She started building a new house on the site of her old barn, but in January her contractor stopped due to imminent bankruptcy. He left the half-finished house with construction defects. “We now have a new contractor, but I don’t know if I can make it financially. There is no one who is going to solve this for us.”
The new building did not go without a struggle for Bert and Jannie Schrage (both 69). Their own contractor was not approved by the National Coordinator Groningen (NCG). “The drawings had already been made, the kitchen ordered. We were already in the ship for 25,000 euros. We had to beg to be allowed to continue with our contractor,” says Jannie.
Six years of anger and then heartache
Their new home has not been completed properly, which means that the couple still has daily stress. This comes on top of the continuously changing ‘rules’ of recent years. ,,Every time a monkey comes out of the sleeve”, says Bert. His blood is still boiling from all the misery. “I was very angry for six years. Then I found out it was my heart.”
His wife Jannie points to his arm. ,,Do you see that? Goosebumps again now.” According to her, paying off the debt of honor can only be done by unburdening people and helping them out of misery as quickly as possible. “That is allowed with exclamation marks and capital letters in the newspaper. Help all the people and do something about the houses,” says Jannie. ,, My environment says: you have a new house, don’t you? But I didn’t ask for that misery. I didn’t ask for Bert to be hospitalized and I almost lost him.”
Tour Debt
Three weeks. Eighteen locations in Groningen and Drenthe. A question. How would you like the Netherlands and the government to redeem the debt of honor for you and your area? Reporters from Newspaper of the North set out to talk to residents of Groningen and Drenthe about the debt of honor that the Netherlands has to the earthquake area. On Wednesday we will come to Garrelsweer at 10 am and to Zeerijp at 12 pm. Friday we will be in Appingedam at 10.00 am.