The National Ombudsman wants to talk again with the Mining Damage Commission and outgoing Minister Sophie Hermans (VVD) of Climate and Green Growth about the handling of earthquake damage in Ekehaar. Residents of that village do not feel taken seriously by the government in compensating for the damage to their homes and, according to the ombudsman, this should change.
Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen visited Ekehaar this morning for the second time in six months. In October 2023, the village and surrounding areas were hit by three earthquakes, caused by gas extraction by the Dutch Petroleum Company (NAM). Residents and the municipality of Aa and Hunze have been complaining for some time about the way in which claims have been handled since then.
Van Zutphen is responsible for investigating complaints that citizens have about the government and for addressing inequality. This morning, residents gave him a tour of several houses with cracks. “I wanted to see with my own eyes where the cracks and problems are in the houses. My impression is that people here have the feeling that a lot of time is spent on reports and research, but that the results are not sufficient to compensate for the damage,” says the ombudsman.
One of the residents with damage is Paul Hoekstra, who reported 27 damage to the Mining Damage Commission (CMS) after the quakes. This committee is responsible for handling reports of damage caused by mining in all parts of the Netherlands, except in the impact area of the large gas field in Groningen. In Hoekstra’s case, the committee assessed that 6 of his reported damages were entirely or partly due to the October 2023 earthquakes.
The Ekehaar resident is not at all satisfied with the way his claims have been assessed and settled, he says in his backyard. “Look, this crack already existed when I moved here,” says Hoekstra, pointing to a fist-sized crack along the corner of his brick shed. “It has already been repaired in the past, but it has reopened due to the earthquakes.”
Hoekstra hoped that the committee would ensure that he could have the crack completely repaired, but was disappointed when he saw how much money he would receive in compensation. “They assessed that I will receive 46 euros. I called a contractor and he told me that the repair will cost between 3,000 and 5,000 euros. So there is a huge difference,” says Hoekstra, who was awarded a total of 1,100 euros for all his cracks.
Mayor Anno Wietze Hiemstra of Aa en Hunze notices that many more residents of the area encounter the same problems. He has been advocating for the introduction of a different method of claims handling for some time: the reverse burden of proof. That is already happening in Groningen. There, all damage that could have been caused by an earthquake is compensated, instead of people having to prove themselves that damage was caused by an earthquake.
Moreover, the mayor thinks it is unfair that the share of recent earthquakes in causing damage is now being calculated. “Gas has been extracted for forty years and there have been earthquakes in this area for just as long, so you can never calculate it so precisely. And the amounts that people are allocated are simply far too low,” says Hiemstra.
A few months ago, Aa en Hunze sent an invitation to Minister Hermans to come to Ekehaar to view the damage and hear the stories of residents. There has now been a response to this, says Hiemstra. “She will come here in December. The most important thing? That she will talk to the residents after two years. I hope she will understand the point and will work to do things differently.”
Ombudsman Van Zutphen wants to discuss the claims settlement with the minister and the CMS before then. He hopes that people in Ekehaar will eventually feel more heard by the government. “Because that’s what I heard from almost everyone today, that they don’t feel taken seriously. And that can really be improved.”