Earthquakes is the name of an additional questionnaire that was implemented in Lifelines at the initiative of the Department of Social Psychology of the University of Groningen.
The aim of the questionnaire was to assess the health impact of earthquake-related damage experienced by inhabitants of Groningen due to the gaswinning industry. The Lifelines cohort provided a unique opportunity for this research, as many participants lived close to the epicenter of the large earthquake of 2012 and the collection of health data had started before and continued after 2012.
Note that one additional question about earthquakes (“how much trouble did you experience due to earthquakes in the last year”) was asked in general questionnaire 2B.

Lifelines invited 6,000 participants to fill in a questionnaire about health, quality of life and social contacts. In addition, several earthquake-related questions were asked to assess the subjective impact of the earthquakes. Information on the objective impact (seismic hazardmaps) of the 2012 earthquake was obtained from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) and linked to participants via their home address postal codes.

Selection criteria for EARQ where the following:

• Adult participant
• Completed assessment 1A before 2012
• Participated in all follow-up general questionnaires thus far (1B, 1C, 2A)
• Did not move to a different address between 1A and 2A
• Participants from sparsely populated areas with high levels of earthquake-related damage were overrepresented in the list of selected participants

Of the 6000 selected and invited participants, 49% (~2,900) filled in the questionnaire. Respondents were most often women (57%) and the average age was ~54 years (23-84).

• Postmes T. et al. (2018): Gevolgen van bodembeweging voor groningers (report in Dutch) QEAR report.
• Stroebe K. et al. (2019). Where did inaction go? Towards a broader and more refined perspective on collective actions. British Journal of Social Psychology 58, 649–667.

The EARQ questionnaire included several items that were used in other Lifelines assessments as well:

• Symptoms (SCL-90) (somatic, anxiety, and depression dimensions)
• Emotional affect (PANAS)
• Quality of Life (RAND)

In addition, the EARQ questionnaire included items on participants' experiences, perceptions and feelings in the context of earthquakes and gaswinning:

The QEAR questionnaire furthermore included items on the social activities and environment of participants:

The QEAR questionnaire also included items on the health of participants:

Finally, the QEAR questionnaire included items on the impact of recent stressful events in general.