This primarily concerns Verviers in the province of Liège, about 15 kilometers from the border with Limburg. “The largest seismic fault in our country is located in Verviers,” said Havenith at RTL Info. “She walks close to Aubel (about 10 kilometers away, almost on the border with the Flemish Region, ed.)”
The other place is Mons, the capital of the province of Hainaut. The estimated impact would differ slightly. “In Verviers it could go up to 6 or more on the Richter scale,” says Havenith. “In Bergen it would be more like 5.5 to 5.8.”
Seismologist Manuel Sintubin (KU Leuven) confirms that such major earthquakes are possible in our country. It even happened already, on September 18, 1692 in Verviers. The quake then had an estimated magnitude of 6.5. “The fault line then ran through North-East Limburg. In theory, earthquakes of magnitude 6.5 are possible there. Without us having to panic: the chance is very small, but not zero,” he tells HLN.