ANTWERPEN (BE)

Suspected mine explosion28 February 2016

Magnitude
–
Depth
–
Max. int.
3
Belgian time
21:36:512016-02-28
UTC
20:36:512016-02-28

Main parameters

Date and time2016-02-28 20:36:51 UTC
2016-02-28 21:36:51 Belgian time
Magnitude–
Epicentral coordinates51.289° N, 4.251° E
Uncertainty ± 1.9 km
Maximum intensity3
Event IDROB 5461

Data source : ROB (Royal Observatory of Belgium)
Last update : 2016-11-24 10:22:08 Belgian time

Location map

  • Epicentre
  • Station that recorded the event

Macroseismic inquiry

Intensities derived from the answers to the online questionnaire “Did you feel an earthquake?”, grouped by municipality (former municipalities included). The map and the chart give the intensity of each municipality.

Answers
56
Municipalities
2
Farthest municipality
13km · ANTWERPEN
Countries
Belgium
Grouping
Show
Intensity of the municipality (CII)
  • I
  • II
  • III
  • IV
  • V
  • VI
  • VII+
Answers per municipality
  • 3–4
  • 5–9
  • 10–19
  • 20–49
  • ≥ 50
  • felt, fewer than 3 answers
  • Epicentre

Answers by intensity

IntensityAnswers
I12
II4
III21
IV16
V2
VI0
VII0
VIII0
IX1
Total56

Intensity against distance

  • Intensity of the municipality (CII)

Arrival of the answers

All51 of 53 answers (96%)

  • Answers at the same position (rounded to about 1 km):
  • 1
  • 10
  • 50
  • Epicentre

Warning: the intensities derived from the inquiry are raw, unverified data.

Notes and method

Intensity of a municipality or a cell (CII, Community Internet Intensity) is computed as follows:

  • I if no answer reports that the earthquake was felt;
  • F earthquake felt, but fewer than 3 answers kept per municipality or cell;
  • II–IX computed from 3 answer(s) kept: CII = 3.40 ln(CWS) − 4.38 (Wald et al., 1999), applied to the weighted sum (CWS) of the mean indexes of the answers; at least II if felt, at most IX.

Answers kept (USGS method, as applied by the ROB): reliability of 80 or more, given on the ground floor up to the 4th floor (or unknown floor), without those more than two standard deviations from the mean. The “felt” index is weighted by the answer to “Did others nearby feel it?”.

Distribution by intensity: macroseismic intensity (MI) recorded for each answer.

Cells: 5 or 10 km squares of the Belgian Lambert 72 grid, each answer placed at its geocoded address or at the point it placed on the map, otherwise at the centre of its municipality. The positions of the answers are published only rounded to about 1 km, in “Arrival of the answers”. Grid cell method: Van Noten et al. (2017), Solid Earth 8, 453–477, doi:10.5194/se-8-453-2017.

Arrival of the answers: time each answer of reliability 80 or more was sent, duplicates removed; position rounded to 0.01° (about 1 km), geocoded or otherwise at the centre of the municipality, where several answers may therefore pile up. Answers without a usable sending time or position, not shown: 2.

Depth not determined: distances measured from the epicentre.

Answers without a known municipality, left out of the map and the chart: 2.

Answers read on 2026-11-09 09:53.

Arrival times at the stations

Each station first records the P wave, the fastest, then the S wave. The farther a station is from the epicentre, the later the waves reach it and the wider the gap between the two.

Stations
13
Epicentral distance
58.9 – 225.5km
Mean velocity, P wave
5.8km/s
  • P wave
  • S wave
  • Curve fitted to the measurements
Notes and method

Curves: travel time of a direct wave in a homogeneous medium. The velocity of each wave and an origin-time shift, common to both, are fitted to the measurements by least squares. Depth not determined: hypocenter placed at the surface for the calculation. P wave: 6 measurements, root-mean-square deviation 0.13 s.

Stations farther than 120 km are left out of the fit: the first waves to reach them have travelled beneath the crust, through the mantle, where they propagate faster.

Table of measurements

Station measurements

P- and S-wave arrivals and ground displacement measured at each station. Click a column heading to change the order.

km°UTCUTCs
Belgian seismic network (Royal Observatory of Belgium)13 stations
MOLTMol58.99820:37:01.64+10.13 s––
SKQSteenkerque72.219020:37:03.73+12.22 s––
SNFSeneffe86.617820:37:06.65+15.14 s––
ZEVZevekote95.926020:37:07.99+16.48 s––
MRDMaredsous115.716120:37:11.50+19.99 s––
GESGesves116.614920:37:11.56+20.05 s––
CLAClavier121.914220:37:12.51+21.00 s––
DOUDourbes135.116920:37:13.78+22.27 s––
RCHRochefort143.815120:37:15.38+23.87 s––
MEMHMembach144.912120:37:15.89+24.38 s––
TNLTernell153.512020:37:17.42+25.91 s––
MRGMont Rigi154.812320:37:17.71+26.20 s––
WLFWalferdange225.514320:37:26.50+34.99 s––
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