Spathi seems to be dismissive of the "Magnitude” issue of earthquakes, suggesting that one is very much like another.
On the Richter scale, tremors of magnitudes between 3.0 and 3.9 are classified as “minor”. The description is:
“Often felt by people, but very rarely causes damage. Shaking of indoor objects can be noticeable.”. There are said to be more than 100,000 such events across the globe every year (2,000 a week) including a number in the UK.
In fact the description of the tremors up to 4.9 is “Generally causes none to minimal damage. Moderate to significant damage very unlikely. Some objects may fall off shelves or be knocked over.”
If you move up to the next level, those up to 5.9 are described:
“Can cause damage of varying severity to poorly constructed buildings. At most, none to slight damage to all other buildings. Felt by everyone.”
Also bear in mind that the Richter Scale is logarithmic. That means that a ‘quake of 5.0 is ten times as powerful as one of 4.0. One of 6.0 is 100 times as powerful as one of 4.0.
The Groningen area of the Netherlands has been subject to some minor earthquakes (though I have not been able to find any reports of houses collapsing). It is important to note that gas extraction there is being done by conventional drilling and not fracking. There have only been seven ‘quakes in the Netherlands beyond Magnitude 4.0 since 1900. Only two of them were over 5.0. None of them have occurred since gas extraction began. Yes indeed, there has been some minor damage in this area of the Netherlands since gas extraction began in 1992. Human have to decide whether they want to burn gas or not. The Dutch people obviously have decided that they do.
Lancashire has not experienced “severe earthquakes” as a result of the fracking activity there (or from any other cause). It has experienced a few minor tremors of the kind that occur naturally every day. In the UK. Since 1900 there have been around 30 earthquakes above 4.0 magnitude. Of these less than a handful produced any structural damage of any significance, with the Swansea ‘quake of 1906 (Magnitude 5.2) the worst.
Remember that magnitude 3.0 is at the bottom end of the band which is described as “Often felt by people, but very rarely causes damage. Shaking of indoor objects can be noticeable.” Of the recent “earthquakes” in Lancashire said to be associated with the fracking exercise going on there, the worst was of magnitude 0.8. This is less than one thousandth of the strength of a ‘quake of 3.0.
Whatever understanding Mr Wheeler does or does not have of earthquake measurements he probably knows, as I do, that Magnitude is a very important element when discussing them. He probably also realises, as I do, that the tremors felt in Lancashire are of no significance whatsoever. People need to get a grip.