It’s not a question of if but when: the Netherlands is in for a big earthquake, writes the Parool.

Last Thursday’s earthquake, which was felt in large parts of the country, did not do much damage. There was a slight tremor which made the teacups rattle but that was all. The earthquake, just over the border with Germany, was nevertheless the second heaviest the Netherlands has experienced recently. Geologists are convinced that worse is still to come: the Netherlands will see a severe earthquake.
While many people phoned the police in the wake of the quake, nobody got hurt.
Parrot Peter from Wehl in Gelderland is the only one still dealing with the stress of it all. He fell off his perch at the first wobble. He is now back on his perch but, say owners Gerry and Henk, ‘He’s not been himself ’.
‘Not if but when’
Scientists are saying it’s a question not of if but when a big earthquake will hit the Netherlands. Geologist Ronald van Baalen thinks it could even measure 7 on the Richter scale. That will cause more damage than a few teacups and a shaken parrot. Buildings will collapse and people will get wounded and killed.
‘There hasn’t been much awareness of the danger’, Van Baalen says. ‘We don’t remember the earthquakes of the past. Hardly anybody knows about the earthquake of 1932 in Uden, for instance.’ Van Baalen thinks the ground near the Belgian town of Bree holds some clues. Two thousand years ago, a very short time in geological terms, a heavy earthquake took place there.
Garden gnomes
According to Van Baalen, buildings in the Netherlands are not built to withstand a heavy earthquake. People are more shocked at the news that an earthquake has taken place than at the quake itself. Minutes after Thursday’s tremor jokes were circulating on the net: perhaps we should send some money to 555. There were pictures of garden gnomes that had fallen over.
Van Baalen thinks it is no laughing matter. ‘The faults in the earth’s crust cross an area in which there are big chemical companies such as DSM’, he warns. Belgium and Germany have nuclear power stations that can only take an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5. ‘The consequences could be very serious indeed.’
This is an unofficial translation