Funny headline, subby.
+1

Everyone here in central Virginia who took damage from the August earthquake is whining about how FEMA doesn't want to help them. Just how in the hell is it my responsibility as a taxpayer to pay for your lack of insurance?

I live in the SF Bay Area. I don't know anyone who has earthquake insurance. Who can afford a plan that would actually do you any good?

I may not have earthquake insurance, but I've got my volcano insurance.

/wife talked me out of the cloud insurance
//they're plotting up there, picking their moment

http://www-deadline-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/michael-j- fox.jpg

Amateurs.

Amateurs.

/like me missing the html code

We've had it for quite a while. It doesn't cost much.

50K deductible, 5K annual premium. No thanks. This reminds me to add more bolts.

AntiNorm: Everyone here in central Virginia who took damage from the August earthquake is whining about how FEMA doesn't want to help them. Just how in the hell is it my responsibility as a taxpayer to pay for your lack of insurance?


Because EQ coverage isn't common and when offered is prohibitively expensive in no small part due to the limited capacity for spreading risk (often excluded by reinsurers when insurers want to spread risk).

As to why, as a taxpayer, you might want to contribute to such coverage the reason would be simply that socio-economic stability created by having consumers and commercial property restored as soon as possible.

Can you bundle it with volcano insurance?

I live in Eastern Kansas; I'm interested in earthquake insurance but only if I can find a provider who'll bundle it with my volcano and robot insurance, anybody have any ideas?

PsiChi: We've had it for quite a while. It doesn't cost much.

I think it depends on where you are and what company you work with. I requested my agent look into it as part of my homeowners policy a few years back, and he instantly said it was going to be really expensive. I asked him again to check, and it turned out that it was something like $25 a month extra. He still thought that was ridiculously expensive.

All the same issues apply, it's really only effective if the house is basically knocked flat, but I live in Washington state not far from Seattle. It hasn't happened in a while, but such a quake is very possible.

I can't afford earthquake insurance. Biatch is expensive!

I can't believe that mortgage companies don't require it. Wish they didn't require me to hold hurricane windstorm insurance here in FL. That stuff's expensive.

Eirik: PsiChi: We've had it for quite a while. It doesn't cost much.

I think it depends on where you are and what company you work with. I requested my agent look into it as part of my homeowners policy a few years back, and he instantly said it was going to be really expensive. I asked him again to check, and it turned out that it was something like $25 a month extra. He still thought that was ridiculously expensive.

All the same issues apply, it's really only effective if the house is basically knocked flat, but I live in Washington state not far from Seattle. It hasn't happened in a while, but such a quake is very possible.

Yes, it depends on where you live. I just bought a condo in the bay area (a very high-risk area), and earthquake insurance would cost me over $400/month. I figured it makes more sense to put that money into savings and preventative maintenance, so that if I have to pay for earthquake repairs at some point, I can afford to do so out of pocket.

number8: I can't believe that mortgage companies don't require it. Wish they didn't require me to hold hurricane windstorm insurance here in FL. That stuff's expensive.

If you have an insurance policy covering non-payment of your mortgage(which many mortgage companies do require) it amounts to the same thing.

Earthquake Insurance? $50 solution:

Store flares and spare gasoline next to the gas water heater / furnace. Problem solved!

What earthquake, Mr. Agent Man? We had a fire. Pay up.

Seriously, though, earthquake insurance is one of those things (*cough* like health and any natural disaster *cough*) that should be nationalized. Insurance only works if the pool is big enough to cover the costs comfortably.

If you don't want to pony up the $$$$/mo for the real thing, at least spend some money on preparedness supplies. Can *you* go 72-96 hours from right now, if you had to? Do you / your family / the people in whose basement you live have a plan?

Cheesus: I may not have earthquake insurance, but I've got my volcano insurance.

/wife talked me out of the cloud insurance
//they're plotting up there, picking their moment

But do you have robot insurance? Robots are everywhere - and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.

That's why a lot people set fire to their houses when damaged by an earthquake.
Is a well known fact.

kronicfeld: AntiNorm: Everyone here in central Virginia who took damage from the August earthquake is whining about how FEMA doesn't want to help them. Just how in the hell is it my responsibility as a taxpayer to pay for your lack of insurance?

Because, as Jesus said, "F*ck you, I got mine."

Pretty sure he said the opposite.

/Oh, that's the joke.

OtherBrotherDarryl: I just bought earthquake insurance but I'm not sure it was worth it (my wife did, so we bought it. deep breath.) I couldn't find any policy with less than a 10% deductible. For example, you pay the first $50K on a $500K policy. IF there is an earthquake and IF my house is damaged, it won't be leveled. A couple of trees fall on it and I'm still out $50K and the insurance company pays the other $20K - $30K or so. I was almost tempted to buy a lower policy to get a lower deductible (say, $200K with a $20K deductible). But I'm married. Like I said.

A 10% earthquake deductible indicates that the walls of your dwelling are constructed primarily of either brick or concrete block (some companies will do lower deductibles, I would have the option of giving you either 7.5% or 4% if i liked you). Those types of structures are prone to cracking during earth movements since the stone is brittle, so it is quite easy to exceed your deductible. If you had a wood or steel frame structure you could get down to 5% (or 4% and 2% if i cared).

I just moved to SoCal myself and switched my insurance. When they told me renters insurance for my apartment didn't cover earthquakes, I asked what it would cost. Turns out that the coverage limit was so low it wasn't worth bothering. Maybe if I had a house it would be different, but it makes no sense in an apartment with my current provider.

I have EQ insurance, and it's bloody expensive, only offers 1500$ for living expenses while my flattened house is repaired, and has a monstrous deductible, like 30K. However, I believe the entire Western seaboard can thank me for the 9.5 not hitting, because if I drop my EQ insurance, we will get hit with a quake and tsunami that hits as far as the Rockies.

My whole family lives within a 20 minute drive of the San Andreas fault, and my parents were required by their mortgage company to carry earthquake insurance. Most of the places out here bundle it with homeowner's insurance by default, and you have to specifically request to not pay it. The deductible is absolutely insane, though.

My husband and I rent, and our renter's insurance doesn't cover earthquakes. I'm of the opinion that if our apartment gets flattened, it's just an excuse for us to open our safe, grab the emergency cash, and leave everything for someone to salvage while we move to a state that has real seasons.

For comparison; here in New Zealand all private insurance policies carry an EQC (Earthquake Commission) levy, the EQC covers not just earthquakes but natural disasters generally, whereby EQC will pay up to $100k NZ per policy, and the insurance company picks up the rest.

By and large, it works, although the Christchurch earthquakes have been quite a learning experience for EQC and it has not been without criticism, but eventually I have no doubt that the claims will be resolved (we're talking about hundreds of thousands of claims, all of which need to be assessed, billions of dollars).

As a resident of Christchurch I would say, don't underestimate the importance of covering yourself against earthquakes, you never know what is lurking beneath the surface, even in areas previously thought to be pretty inactive geologically.

We're renters in Los Angeles. We don't have earthquake insurance, either. In our case, we risk losing personal items--furniture, some jewelry, computers, etc.--but we have more than enough cash in the bank to replace everything we own a few times over.

I don't even have LIFE insurance on myself or my 3 children. And I rent a 2 story house on the prairie of northwest-Illinois, so I think I'll be OK without the earthquake-type.

//Actually, I just remembered I have minimal life insurance through work. Basically, if I die while I am employed with them, they pay my survivor my 12-month salary.

Contents Under Pressure: I have EQ insurance, and it's bloody expensive, only offers 1500$ for living expenses while my flattened house is repaired, and has a monstrous deductible, like 30K. However, I believe the entire Western seaboard can thank me for the 9.5 not hitting, because if I drop my EQ insurance, we will get hit with a quake and tsunami that hits as far as the Rockies.

Cool, I've got Nor Cal covered with my $800/year earthquake insurance ($40k deductible). Yes it's expensive, but I don't want to get completely Farked if my house collapses.