Years of uncertainty, which does not seem to improve for the time being. Many residents of Ten Post have been waiting six years or more for a reinforcement advice from the National Coordinator Groningen (NCG), the municipality announced last week. Residents’ frustration runs deep after such a long period of uncertainty. “The NCG has so many regulations that they are bogged down in their own quagmire.”
If you ask Wiebren Kerkstra (70) what he thinks of the National Coordinator Groningen (NCG), he doesn’t have to think long. “A worthless organization that needs years of time and hardly communicates. It takes about half a year before you hear from them,” he says with a sigh. “I used to be an entrepreneur, but if I worked that slowly I would have gone bankrupt long ago.”
The municipality of Groningen reported this week that 42 homeowners have still not received reinforcement advice from the NCG for their earthquake-damaged homes. That is a lot more than the 19 homeowners that the municipality reported on in December. Some of them have been waiting for the advice for six years.
The causes vary, but in more than half of the addresses the delay is because they fall outside the typology approach, a faster and simpler way of assessing than was usual in the past. In principle, the residents should receive their advice this year, but in recent years they have regularly received a similar message.
‘Informing people properly is the least they can do’
Kerkstra has been waiting since 2017 for his home on Tuwingastraat in Ten Post to be reinforced. The NCG initially issued a reinforcement recommendation, but then suggested whether demolition and new construction was not an option. Kerkstra did not want to do that because of his advanced age. In 2020, he applied for a reassessment. In April this year, the confirmation for reinforcement finally followed, but when is unknown.
The NCG hopes to provide him with clarity before October or November. “So that won’t be before March anyway. It goes on like this all the time, you remain in uncertainty,” says Kerkstra scornfully. He thinks he knows why the NCG is taking so long to process the advice. ,,Hans Alders was a good one, but the figures that came after that are puppets who listen too much to The Hague. Informing people properly is the least they can do. That can and should really be a lot better.”
‘A lot of money goes to agencies and consultants’
Jan (53) and Janet (48) Jut live in a characteristic house on the Rijksweg. They have had earthquake damage since 2012 and have been waiting for reinforcement advice since 2017. Due to leakage in the bathroom due to earthquakes, their ceiling on the ground floor has been significantly damaged. Jut apologizes for the state of his conservatory as he walks to the living room to point out the damage. “We try to keep it tidy here, but you always don’t know where you stand.”
There is still no concrete advice after all these years. Because their home falls outside the typology approach, inspections are needed to determine the reinforcement procedure. An inspector from an independent agency came in May, but he was not properly informed by the NCG, says Jan. “He thought he had to come for a visual inspection, but it should have been an inspection for a weakened structure. So he left again.”
Jut criticizes the working method at the NCG. In April, he and his wife were given a list of contractors to choose from. ,,That would be 10, but there were 40. And some did not even exist anymore. It’s not unwillingness on the part of the NCG, but inability.” Janet adds: ‘They have so many regulations that they get bogged down in their own quagmire. A lot of money goes to agencies and consultants, but as a resident you have to fight for every euro.”
‘It’s not going to happen before 2025’
The two have now found a contractor who will make a report on the reinforcement. “But we have already been told that it will not happen before 2025 anyway. That is very frustrating. Our youngest son is 14 and doesn’t know any better. This is his reality.”
Alex Nijborg (55) has been waiting since 2016 for reinforcement of his house on Tuwingastraat. After a year he opted for demolition and new construction, but that too has still not got off the ground. ,,I have confidence in Vijlbrief, but he said that the citizen should come first again, while I recently experienced that as a resident you should above all listen. Everyone talks about my house, I don’t have much to say myself.”
Nijborg finds the difficulty of the process frustrating. “It is always about rules first, not about people. My neighbors have already moved, I agree with them. I am a warrior, but many residents in Ten Post have given up.”
‘The method is like thick shit through a small funnel’
Kerkstra has little confidence that much will change in the short term. “I think the reinforcements will finally come when I am 75. The method of the NCG is like thick shit through a small funnel. I want them to take it one step at a time.”
Despite the years of waiting, Kerkstra says he is not as angry as he may seem. “In the beginning you still worry about it, but now I don’t do that anymore. It doesn’t itch my cows anymore. Reinforce or not, I wait no more. We’re just going to renew our kitchen and make the house more sustainable.”
Jan and Janet Jut do that too. “We have had damage for 12 years, but we have stood still for too long. We recently installed solar panels and a new kitchen. At some point you have to move on.”