The earthquakes in Groningen have also affected our family. Johan and Frannie Schoonveld have lived since 1977 in a beautiful craftsmen’s house at Hoofdweg 93 in Slochteren. The house was built in 1902. Where the workshop used to be, they have created three bedrooms. Their four daughters and son – Corien, Krista, Judith, Liesbeth, and Willem – grew up there.

Slochteren was the center of natural gas extraction and is now also located in the earthquake zone. Since 2014, Johan and Frannie have experienced earthquakes. “Not minor tremors,” says Johan. Due to the quakes, the floor of the old workshop sank, and cracks appeared in the floors. Cracks appeared in the walls, and the doors began to stick. In 2019, the chimney was replaced.

Johan explains that they received compensation for each centimeter of cracks in the walls for the repairs. They repaired the damage twice, but after each tremor, new damage occurred in the house.

It needed to be addressed more robustly. The National Coordinator Groningen (NCG) assessed the damage. Last March, the plan was to keep the outer walls and replace the inner walls with timber frame construction. They intended to secure these to the outer walls to reinforce them, but when it became clear they were too weak, this part of the house was demolished, a 6-meter deep foundation was placed, and then that part of the house was rebuilt. It will be completed by the end of April. What has been done looks great!

They want to restore the other half of the house sustainably, but a plan still needs to be made. The expectation is that this will begin in 8 months, but that’s still uncertain. We’ll wait and see…