Quakes Giving Dutch Province 'A Makeover We Don't Want'
June 25 2017 - 8:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah Kent
GRONINGEN, The Netherlands -- Irma de Joode was talking on the
phone with her brother when she heard what sounded like rolls of
thunder and felt her entire house jump beneath her feet.
The Aug. 16, 2012, earthquake was the biggest ever to rock the
flat, green plains of this northern Dutch province. The source was
Europe's biggest natural gas field.
The earthquake was one of more than 300 temblors since 1991 that
Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp. and the Dutch government
acknowledge were caused by their activities at the Groningen gas
field.
The quakes have led to nearly 80,000 damage claims by residents
here, prompted a court to order a criminal investigation into the
Shell-Exxon joint venture, and led to government limits on gas
production to which the companies object.
The quakes have disrupted life in this once wealthy agricultural
region, which spools across the north of the Netherlands to the sea
in a verdant band punctuated by country villages, redbrick
farmhouses and medieval churches.
Many of those historic structures are now scarred with cracks
and ugly supportive struts; some have been torn down entirely.
Property values have plummeted. Buildings here are sturdy, but they
weren't made to withstand earthquakes, which were virtually unheard
of in this part of the world until the early 1990s, when the gas
quakes were first acknowledged.
In early 2013, after another quake shook her house, Ms. de Joode
noticed serious structural damage to her home, a historic
19th-century farmhouse. She and her family put in a claim for
compensation from Shell and Exxon's joint venture and pressured
government officials for help to reinforce the building.
The process has taken five years of constant work, Ms. de Joode
said, and disrupted the family's life.
"The stress you have every day," she said. For months after the
damage, she lived with uncertainty over the house's stability. "I
was very scared. When I had my grandchildren over, I tried to stay
in safe parts of our house."
Shell and Exxon's joint venture, Nederlandse Aardolie
Maatschappij BV, or NAM, has vowed to pay for any
earthquake-induced damage. It has settled thousands of compensation
claims and poured money into government efforts to reinforce local
buildings and stimulate the local economy. Efforts are under way to
try and improve the claims process.
Some residents see the benefits. Cees de Vries received
financing through the economic fund NAM helped establish to boost
his business -- a landmark hotel in the village of Loppersum.
"People don't like that I say this," Mr. de Vries said. "I think
without the earthquakes this whole region would have been going
downhill anyway and now there's a lot of activity."
But Mr. de Vries acknowledged the continuing earthquakes create
uncertainty for homeowners and businesses. Reinforcing buildings in
the earthquake zone is expected to take years.
In a region known for its historic architecture, there are
worries the new construction won't preserve the region's character,
said Susan Top, secretary of the Groninger Gasberaad, a coalition
of local civil society groups.
"We're all very afraid that it will get a makeover we don't
want," she said.
Write to Sarah Kent at sarah.kent@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 25, 2017 08:14 ET (12:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024