Winde experienced an earthquake last night. With a force of 1.6 on the Richter scale, people in the area may have felt it, according to the KNMI.
It is not the first time that Winde has to deal with an earthquake. In September 2020 there was also an earthquake in the same area. With a magnitude of 1.8 on the Richter scale, it was slightly heavier than last night’s quake. Subsequently, 33 damage reports were received by the Institute for Mining Damage Groningen (IMG).
According to seismologist Pauline Kruiver of KNMI, residents of the area may have noticed it. “The earthquake is on the edge of what can be felt. If it’s very quiet in terms of ambient noise, people may have felt it.”
The quake was picked up by the seismometers, devices that constantly measure whether there are vibrations. If that is the case, the KNMI will be notified. “We then check whether it is indeed an earthquake. If that is the case, we will publish it and it will be visible to everyone.”
Close to Winde is the Vries gas field, where gas is extracted. “There are a number of gas fields in the region and we located last night’s quake on the edge of a gas field,” says Kruiver. “So it is not like in the south of the country, where natural earthquakes occur. If there is an earthquake here, it is an induced earthquake, caused by human action.”
Kruiver cannot say whether an earthquake measuring 1.6 on the Richter scale can also cause damage to homes. “But if these people have felt this earthquake, they can fill in a survey form on the KNMI site. That is useful information for us.”
The heaviest earthquake to date in the gas extraction area was on August 16, 2012 near Huizinge in northern Groningen. That quake had a magnitude of 3.6. In June it was announced that the Groningen gas tap will close on 1 October. That is sixty years after gas extraction began.