Earthquake Insurance (Seattle, Pacific: home owners insurance, house, to buy)

[Rob66]

I saw something recently in the news about the Pacific Northwest and the very real possibility of an earthquake. The Cascadia Fault is predicted to cause an earthquake far more severe than the San Andreas Fault. There is a 1 in 3 chance this will happen in the next 50 years. Apparently we are due.

My question is do a lot of you have earthquake insurance? I have home owners insurance with Met Life, but no provision in my policy for earthquakes. What is the basic cost, and is it worth adding that to a home insurance.

Thank you.

Regards,
Rob

[Jumpindogs]

Originally Posted by Rob66

I saw something recently in the news about the Pacific Northwest and the very real possibility of an earthquake. The Cascadia Fault is predicted to cause an earthquake far more severe than the San Andreas Fault. There is a 1 in 3 chance this will happen in the next 50 years. Apparently we are due.

My question is do a lot of you have earthquake insurance? I have home owners insurance with Met Life, but no provision in my policy for earthquakes. What is the basic cost, and is it worth adding that to a home insurance.

Thank you.

Regards,
Rob

I can't answer your question since we are merely area landowners and not yet homeowners. But there are lots of helpful folks who can and will.

However, I've been doing some research and I've come to the conclusion that if the big one hits during your lifetime I doubt earthquake insurance will help you much since it will be the largest disaster in the history of the U.S. and the PNW will be a total wreck for months and even years. You may not be able to or desire to rebuild. IMHO your money would be better spent making your home as earthquake proof as you can to avoid personal injury and being prepared with a wisely stocked backpack you can grab and a planned walking escape route. Roads will likely be impassable.

However, earthquake insurance might help with smaller quakes. And I suppose if a policy covered the complete destruction of your home and reimbursed you even if you moved to a different area to rebuild/buy another house it might be worth it.

There are some other C-D threads on the subject of earthquakes with informative links. You might find them interesting. Just do an advanced search with "earthquake" as your search word and search the WA forums.

[hml1976]

We have it through USAA. It's a $100 a year (I believe we are covered for 300k ish) but has a 30% deductible.

[Hemlock140]

We got it when we moved here in 1993 and have had it ever since. After being through the Loma Prieta in 1989 there's no way we'd be without it. Ours is full replacement but 10% deductible. I remember after the Nisqually in 2001 the insurers stopped selling it for a time, as always happens right after a quake, because that's when people try to buy it, and it's not a good risk for the insurance companies with aftershocks coming. No doubt, that article will mean a lot of new earthquake insurance customers.

[Ruth4Truth]

Ya know, if a mega-quake like that article describes were to hit, there would be nothing left of the insurance companies to honor people's claims. Their office building would be rubble, and most of the ins. agents dead, if not from the quake, then from the resulting tsunami. And do you think they'd be able to pay anyone in such a cataclysmic disaster? Really?? Entire cities in the region wiped out? Chances are, the potential claimants would be dead, too.

As for smaller quakes, I've been through those in Seattle, even one that did some damage downtown, and everything was fine. If you read the New Yorker article, you'll see that the main preventive for lowering risk to your home is bolting the structure to its foundation. Lots of people in the Bay Area did seismic retrofitting like that, after the quake in '89. Consider doing that for your home.

[hml1976]

I'm not concerned about the gigantic quake, I'm concerned about the mid size one that cracks my foundation and causes 100k in damage. Although my insurance agent (in Texas) would probably make it even if it's the big one.

At around $8 a month it's worth the money.

[MarciaMarshaMarcia]

I had a friend in SoCal whose house was knocked off its foundation by a quake..they thought they had pretty good earthquake insurance, but it took them years & pretty much broke them financially before their house was habitable again. If they had not had relatives to stay with during the years of repair, they would have gone under. So, for all the years of being homeowners in CA & now here, we've just taken our chances & been ok.