Ever since the Japanese earthquake and following tsunami hit our television screens, there’s been slightly more interest in whether earthquake cover is needed in the US. In other words, there’s a temporary outbreak of paranoia, worrying whether such a disaster could ever happen here. For a few months, people will get quotes and talk to insurance agents about the cost of cover, and then interest will all slowly die down again. Even in the US states at risk, less than 10% of the population carries earthquake cover.
Given that California sits on a major fault line, this may seem surprising. But, when asked why cover is refused, most people come up with an entirely rational reply. If there’s a “big one”, this would not simply cause one home to fall down. This would open cracks in the ground and damage all the major infrastructure of roads, bridges, the cabling and piping that brings essential services to an area, and so. There could not be any rebuilding of individual homes until access was restored and the basic services were reconnected. When you look at the deficits being run by many of the at-risk states, there would be serious delays in accessing federal funds and then commissioning the necessary works. So having earthquake insurance on the homes is not going to be much use for months or, indeed years. In some areas where there are landslides or sections of the land fall into the sea, it might never be possible to rebuild on the same sites. This is not to say pessimism is the right approach. Since earthquake damage is usually excluded from the standard policy, you should ask for quotes and decide whether the cover on offer is affordable.
As an incentive for you to review your cover, there’s a major earthquake drill called ShakeOut due to be held. This will give the 9 million people living in the areas covered by the drill a chance to consider how severe the damage might be to their particular area. People at work, at school and at home will be invited to think about where the safest places are in each location. That way, if there’s a quake, everyone knows where to drop, cover and hold on. All schools, business and families should have a disaster preparedness plan.
From the insurance industry’s point of view, this is the time to discuss insurance with both individual home owners and businesses. Records show businesses carry even less insurance than homeowners. Given the levels of loss to both the buildings, stock-in-trade and earnings following a quake, this failure to insure is surprising. The scenario for the drill assumes a 7.8 earthquake along the San Andreas Fault. Even if homeowners and businesses continue their reluctance to insure, they can at least be alerted to the need to plan a response.
Home insurance is all about assessing risk. The US Geological Survey has reported 877 earthquakes on American soil in the seven days up to October 26. Fortunately, most of them were low intensity but, sooner or later, there will be a more damaging quake. Scientists have no way of predicting where this “big one” will hit. So when you ask for home insurance quotes including earthquake cover, ask yourself how lucky you feel.
