Every 30 seconds the ground shakes in the mini Christmas village in Groningen

The earth is shaking in Groningen, even at a very local level. In the Tuinland garden center in the city of Groningen, a miniature village has been built on a vibrating surface.

Like every year, the garden center has been transformed into a Christmas paradise. Along shelves full of Christmas baubles and at the end of a row of plastic Christmas trees is a large sign with an arrow: “Continued Christmas route: Santa’s bakery and earthquake village”. The cozy Christmas village is slightly different this year, because it is located in the middle of an earthquake zone.

Groningen flags are pinned everywhere in the landscape. Small protest banners read: “Government do something!” “It’s killing us” and “It’s been going on for so long.” Toy bulldozers and excavators stand between the houses. Even now that the gas tap is closed, the misery is not over for many Groningen residents.

This ‘earthquake Christmas village’ is a symbol for the entire province. Place name signs refer to villages in the Groningen earthquake area, such as ‘Loppersum’, ‘Oschild’, and ‘Garrelsweer’.

Conversation starter

An ‘earthquake Christmas village’ stands on a vibrating plate that vibrates every 30 seconds in the Groningen garden center.

Kees van de Veen

“It starts a lot of conversations,” says Tuinland employee Marianne van Dijken, and creator of the village. “Visitors recognize their own village, or that of a family member, and start talking about the earthquake damage they suffered.”

The makers of the village received damaged and returned Christmas houses from other Tuinland branches that could no longer be sold. During an earthquake, the Styrofoam balls of snow move back and forth, and the houses of mini house maker Lemax wobble violently. A church, a coffee roaster, a candy store, and regular houses. It’s a good thing there are also miniature plastic struts to absorb the shock.

Every thirty seconds the vibrating plate starts moving and you hear a growling sound, like a kind of jackhammer. Audrey (44) from the Groningen village of Winsum is shopping with her mother Ineke Kuiper (74). “This seems like an earthquake of 5.8 on the Richter scale to me,” Audrey estimates, laughing.

The strongest earthquake ever measured to date was in 2012 in Huizinge, measuring magnitude 3.6 on the Richter scale. Since then, more attention has been paid to the earthquakes caused by natural gas extraction. Yet many Groningen residents have been experiencing problems for years and do not feel heard.

Gluing the sloping chimney

Protest signs and Groningen flags between styrofoam snow in the mini Groningen earthquake Christmas village in Tuinland in Groningen city.

“The Tuinland Christmas department looks nice and is a nice place to walk around, but in Groningen a lot of people live in a house that is dilapidating,” says Tuinland employee Van Dijken. She hacked into some of the small houses with a screwdriver: “So that I could then glue the broken chimney back onto the roof at an angle.” Van Dijken hopes that the village will raise awareness. “Many people still experience problems from the earthquakes, that is just the reality.”

Audrey thinks it is good that this Christmas village draws attention to earthquakes. She and her mother both had extensive damage to their homes. “That makes you very sad, but we have now been able to give it a place. You have to keep going.”

“The village is really intended to encourage the people of Groningen,” says Van Dijken. She has been dealing with the consequences of earthquakes for ten years, her own house in Middelstum has been damaged and will soon have to be demolished. “It really does something to you.”

The reactions to the shaking village are almost exclusively positive, but some visitors don’t like it. “I have heard visitors say that the situation is no laughing matter, but the earthquake Christmas village is not intended to make fun of it,” says Tuinland employee Ronald Wegman (24).

“It is a statement: Groningen, head for it. Groningen, take courage. Also in the dark days before Christmas.”

Isn’t such a Christmas village with beautiful lights and cheerful Christmas music indeed too fun, given the severity of the earthquakes that Groningen residents have to deal with? “No, because we also celebrate Christmas,” says garden center visitor Ineke Kuiper.