Why Don’t Californians Have Enough Earthquake Insurance?
One of the reasons why disaster movies are so popular is that watching something terrible happen while sitting safe and comfortable in a movie theater is that it allows people to see what could happen while they remain secure. The movie San Andreas showed how a massive series of earthquakes wiped out most of California. Yes, there was a lot of exaggeration in the storyline and some questionable science. But it was not complete fiction. The 800 mile long San Andreas Fault runs through the state and is one of the most dangerous fault lines in the world.
The Next Major Earthquake Could Happen Soon
Scientists say that the general rule of plate tectonic movement is that 16 feet of accumulated plate movement is relieved by a quake every 100 years. There has been no stress relief on the San Andreas Fault for over a century. The director of the Southern California Earthquake Center says that the fault is “locked, loaded and ready to roll.”
The science of earthquake is improving but it is still in its infancy. Even if a quake could be predicted, the benefit would be in terms of getting people out of the danger zone, not in saving property. A house cannot be moved overnight. The Bay area has 3 major fault lines – the San Andreas, the Hayward and the Calaveras. The U.S. Geological Survey predicts that a major quake will hit the Bay Area in the next 30 years along any of these faults.
A major quake in the Bay Area sometime in the not too distant future appears to be inevitable. The right insurance coverage is the only way to secure a family’s financial future when (not if) it happens.
Earthquake Insurance Is Not Cheap
A 2016 survey found that less than 15% of Bay Area homes have earthquake coverage. It’s not that people are unaware of the danger – everyone knows that this is an earthquake hot zone. The problem is the high premiums and deductibles that can make the cost of insurance appear to be excessively high. Premiums are determined by a home’s replacement value and how high the risk of quakes are in a specific area. Both of these conspire to push up Bay Area insurance costs. According to the California Earthquake Authority(CEA), the average premium for earthquake insurance in San Francisco County was $2,156 in 2014. That is a major reason why less than only 1 million of the almost 7 million single-family homes in the state have earthquake insurance. The issue that homeowners seem to miss is that the premiums are high because the risk is high. If a home is seriously damaged or destroyed in a quake, the cost of restoring it, could wipe out a family financially. Federal and state emergency assistance is only for survival, not for rebuilding lives. Earthquake insurance is the only way to protect a home and a family’s future.
Contacting an insurance broker to find the right coverage, as that is also essential. An insurance professional can help you to work out the coverage you need within the budget you have. It may not, afterall be as expensive as you think it is.
The Next Major Earthquake Could Happen Soon
Scientists say that the general rule of plate tectonic movement is that 16 feet of accumulated plate movement is relieved by a quake every 100 years. There has been no stress relief on the San Andreas Fault for over a century. The director of the Southern California Earthquake Center says that the fault is “locked, loaded and ready to roll.”
The science of earthquake is improving but it is still in its infancy. Even if a quake could be predicted, the benefit would be in terms of getting people out of the danger zone, not in saving property. A house cannot be moved overnight. The Bay area has 3 major fault lines – the San Andreas, the Hayward and the Calaveras. The U.S. Geological Survey predicts that a major quake will hit the Bay Area in the next 30 years along any of these faults.
A major quake in the Bay Area sometime in the not too distant future appears to be inevitable. The right insurance coverage is the only way to secure a family’s financial future when (not if) it happens.
Earthquake Insurance Is Not Cheap
A 2016 survey found that less than 15% of Bay Area homes have earthquake coverage. It’s not that people are unaware of the danger – everyone knows that this is an earthquake hot zone. The problem is the high premiums and deductibles that can make the cost of insurance appear to be excessively high. Premiums are determined by a home’s replacement value and how high the risk of quakes are in a specific area. Both of these conspire to push up Bay Area insurance costs. According to the California Earthquake Authority(CEA), the average premium for earthquake insurance in San Francisco County was $2,156 in 2014. That is a major reason why less than only 1 million of the almost 7 million single-family homes in the state have earthquake insurance. The issue that homeowners seem to miss is that the premiums are high because the risk is high. If a home is seriously damaged or destroyed in a quake, the cost of restoring it, could wipe out a family financially. Federal and state emergency assistance is only for survival, not for rebuilding lives. Earthquake insurance is the only way to protect a home and a family’s future.
Contacting an insurance broker to find the right coverage, as that is also essential. An insurance professional can help you to work out the coverage you need within the budget you have. It may not, afterall be as expensive as you think it is.
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