Groningen hit by another gas extraction earthquake; 2.8 magnitude in north of province

Groningen residents were woken by another gas extraction earthquake on Friday morning. The earthquake happened in the north of the province and measured 2.8 on the Richter scale, according to the KNMI.

The quake happened at 5:50 a.m., with the epicenter near the villages of Rottum and Zandeweer. The KNMI called it an “induced earthquake,” which means it was caused by decades of gas extraction in the area.

Since the 1980s, over 2,000 tremors have been recorded in Groningen, according to RTL Nieuws. Most remained below magnitude 2. Stronger quakes, like the one today, are quite exceptional. This was only the 200th earthquake with a magnitude of 2.0 or more, and the strongest since March, when a 3.0 earthquake occurred near Assen.

RTV Noord received dozens of reports from locals who felt the earthquake. “I was asleep, but it woke me up. It vibrated quite a bit and creaked enormously,” one person wrote. A resident from Onderdenham was also woken by “the shaking house.”

“We were asleep! It shook and creaked. It woke both of us up,” said a person from Uithuizen. They reported feeling a bang, “after which the whole house shook for a few seconds.” A fellow Uithuizen resident described it as “three very loud thuds,” and another felt a “massive tremor, bang, and aftershock.

Due to the government's closure of the gas fields in Groningen, the number of earthquakes has decreased in recent years. Since the start of this year, the KNMI recorded 20 tremors in the province. Last year, there were 37, and 42 in 2024. Between 2011 and 2019, there were approximately 100 earthquakes per year. The record year was 2013, with 133 earthquakes.