42 natural earthquakes were recorded in Belgium in 2024. By extending the observation zone to part of France, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, this number even rises to 141. That is more than in 2023.
The seismology section of the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ORB) recorded last year 141 natural earthquakes in and around Belgium. This is an increase of 21 events compared to 2023, notes the ORB. None of these earthquakes, however, exceeded a magnitude of 1.8 on the Richter scaleor an earthquake that is not even felt by the population.
If 42 natural earthquakes occurred in Belgium in 2024, this number is more than tripled when counting the earthquakes recorded in the area observed by the ORB, between 1° and 8° longitude and 49° and 52° latitude. This corresponds to part of northern France, part of western Germany, southern Netherlands, as well as all of Luxembourg and Belgium. The ORB records in this area all natural earthquakes whose local magnitude is greater than 1.0.
Still in 2024, the ORB also measured 304 career explosions and 10 offshore explosions linked to controlled destruction of bombs of the First and Second World Wars by the Belgian, Dutch or French armies. Four seismic events linked to festivals of music were also observed by scientists during this same period.
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