Question of the Week: I am covered by the California Earthquake Authority. Is it true that I may not be paid the full amount of my covered loss?

It is true.  You see, the CEA is not technically an insurance company.  It is not financially regulated like an insurance company and it is not covered by the California Insurance Guarantee Association, a fund that pays the claims of insolvent California insurers. 

The CEA saves money and purchases reinsurance until there is an earthquake and then it pays the saved money and collectible reinsurance benefits to policyholders.  If there isn’t enough money for the CEA to meet losses, claims will be paid to policyholders on a pro-rata or even an installment basis.

With so many Californians covered by the CEA, there is a chance this could be a real problem, especially if there are two major earthquakes in a short period.  

Why, you may ask, was the CEA organized this way?  Well the real intent at the time the CEA was created was to free up the insurance market for homeowner’s insurance.  Your homeowner’s insurance company is required to offer you earthquake insurance.  In the wake of the Northridge earthquake in 1994, insurers were afraid their policyholders might actually take them up on these offers and so stopped writing new policies altogether.  

This very tight homeowner’s insurance market made mortgages difficult to fund which affected the real estate market and the entire economy.  The CEA was developed mainly as a way for insurers fulfill their offer requirement without putting their policyholder surplus (capital) at risk. 

After a few years, some private insurance companies began offering earthquake insurance apart from homeowners insurance.  Today there are three companies that offer “stand-alone” earthquake insurance for your home: GeoVera, Pacific Select and Universal North America. All of them can be accessed here at caerthquakeinsurance.com

With the creation of the CEA and the availability of private stand-alone earthquake insurance, homeowners insurance is again much more available in California.

Even in Chicago

Insurance officials in Illinois are recommending that folks review their earthquake insurance coverage after  Chicagoland was hit with a 3.8 magnitude tremor last week.

So just how likely is a significant earthquake to strike in Northern Illinois?  I did a little research and found that in a given 50 year period, compared to California, it is about as likely as the Cubs winning the World Series.  Could it be their year?

Google Earth has an updated image of Port-au-Prince. This is a high-resolution image of the Haitian capital city at 10:27 EST today.  (Click here to download Google Earth)  For those of us who spent hours as kids thumbing through atlases, it is fascinating to see such high res photos in nearly real-time. 

Since the quake occurred on January 12, 2010, it is very apparent from these images that the city is still not functioning at all and it is hard to imagine how these folks are going to get back on their feet.

In reviewing the image, it appears to me that certain parts of the city suffered more damage than others.  This brought back memories how the Northridge quake in 1994 seemed to cause more damage in Santa Clarita and West Los Angeles than may locations closer to the epicenter.

Please leave your comments and earthquake stories.

Two 4.1 quakes this weekend in SoCal

Latest quakes in California:  February 15, 2010, 4.1 near Coso Junction, CA;  February 13, 2010, 4.1 near Redlands, CA.

There was also a 4.5 in Baja California, Mexico on February 15, 2010, only 37 miles south of the border.

Three in Three!  As most earthquake veterans know, anything over a 4.0 is noticible by anyone not driving a car or on an amusement park ride.  Three of these in three days so close together geographically is a little unusual.

I found a new great link for earthquake stuff:  CalTech has a terrific site with all sorts of information.  Please take a good look at the Shakemovie which shows a fascinating graphic of how the waves travel through the earth during a particular event.  I am a little disappointed that these videos don’t show the difference between P and S waves.  Other than that, I think these little movies do a great job of representing how a quake is really a wave traveling through the ground.

My favorite Relief for Haiti organization:  Episcopal Relief and Development  is renowned for efficiency and getting the most of you donated dollar to the folks who need it.  They appreciate your donation and I think you will be happy you gave through this organization.

Thank you all, 

Earthquakeman

Earthquake Damage and Newer Houses

Build a house of cards and shake the table.  Your card structure will come fluttering down in like confetti.  Well, except for a few nails and, more recently, some thoughtful engineering, a house is not terribly unlike a house of cards.

These days, houses in Earthquake Country are built with the hope that they won’t suffer extensive damage from a moderate quake.  Bolts are sunk into the wet concrete foundation to ensure the structure doesn’t slide off.  Sheer panels cover the entire dwelling adding rigidity and strength in all directions.  Prefabricated roof trusses on 23 inch centers provide even more protection from seismic forces.  Chimneys aren’t even made of brick anymore.

With the new building codes and modern materials we use to build houses nowadays, what could possible happen to one in an earthquake?  I asked myself the same thing and found some interesting information from the good folks in Berkeley.

Much of the serious damage to dwellings from the Northridge quake was to the foundation, usually a slab which subsequently damaged the rest of the structure.  Often this damage was worse if the dwelling was built on fill rather than cut.

If you are up for some serious reading on the subject of building on fill and cut in the Santa Clarita area, let me recommend this journal article on the subject: 

http://peer.berkeley.edu/publications/peer_reports/reports_2002/0209.pdf

Let me know what you think

Earthquakeman

Earthquake Waves

Put very simply, Earthquakes are made up of two different waves.  P waves travel more quickly and are the first waves you feel in an earthquake.  S waves travel slower but are more intense.  

One of the ways scientists determine the epicenter of an earthquake is by measuring the time between these waves to find the distance from their origin.  By using several sensing locations they can determine the point from which the waves radiate. 

If you can keep your wits about you during an earthquake and if you are far enough from the epicenter you can sense the difference and time between these two waves.  This occurred to me during an earthquake I experienced in Palm Springs some years ago.  The initial P wave was a sort of sudden jolt followed by a second or two of relative calm before the S waves came.  The S waves were more intense and lasted much longer than the P wave. 

The University of Nevada, Reno has an interesting page that discusses these waves and the process of location here:  http://www.seismo.unr.edu/ftp/pub/louie/class/100/seismic-waves.html 

Let me know what you think.

Earthquakeman

Hello world!

This is the beggining of Earthquakeman, a blog about things earthquakey.  Earthquakeman is edited by John Fortman, wise in the ways of earthquake insurance for dwellings in California.