Both China AND California Have Virtually No Earthquake Insurance!

Both the top and bottom of the San Andreas is shaking nearly continuously while the middle remains completely locked down.
May 16, 2008

Elaine Meinel Supkis

Bloomberg carries a totally insane article saying the Chinese are stupid because they don't have lots of earthquake insurance. The entire article is filled with bad comparisons and leaves out data concerning California and earthquake insurance. Namely, only 12%, yes, we heard this right! 12% have insurance! And this is better than China? HAHAHA. Time again to warn the dreamers in sunny California, the dark cloud of annihilation is right over the horizon waiting to come pouring in one fine day with no warning at all. And of course, the ONLY insurance we have, collectively, is our government. Which is going bankrupt. Bankrupt! Gads. Send the Chinese some donations to save the victims there and pray the gods don't punish us next.

China Quake's $20 Billion Damage Show Insurance Abyss

The most powerful earthquake in China since 1950 shows the nation's insurance industry is decades behind those of the world's biggest economies.

Just 5 percent of the more than $20 billion of damage from the quake in Sichuan province is covered by insurance, according to estimates from an official at the China Insurance Regulatory Commission. By contrast, about half of the $120 billion of estimated costs from Hurricane Katrina, the most expensive storm in U.S. history, was insured by companies or the federal government, data compiled by analysts at Jersey City, New Jersey- based Property Claim Services show.

The ragging on China continues unabated and unmercifully. The US paid 'half' of the damage from Katrina? First, the percentage paid by the US government was more than half of this half! And this went into our massive DEFICIT SPENDING. Which that year, was well over half a trillion dollars which we got from running off to ...get this...CHINA!!!!

If any brainiac thinks China who funded part of the Katrina costs, can't fix itself, they are NUTS. Secondly, comparing an earthquake with a hurricane is stupid. They are NOT the same thing at all.

Earthquake insurance in the Bay Area is expensive, risky business

Almost two decades after the Loma Prieta earthquake damaged more than 40,000 homes, most Bay Area property owners don't have insurance policies that will protect them when - and experts say it's only a matter of time - the Big One hits.

Statewide, only 12 percent of California homeowners have earthquake coverage, according to the California Earthquake Authority, a publicly managed entity that sells policies through private companies. The number of Bay Area homeowners with coverage is even lower than that, although the agency doesn't have a precise figure for the region, according to Tim Richison, the earthquake authority's chief financial officer.

Earthquake insurance is extraordinarily expensive - it typically doubles a homeowner's annual premiums - and most policies come with a 10 or 15 percent deductible, meaning that damage would have to be pretty severe before policyholders would be able to tap into their coverage.

"Conceptually, earthquake insurance is a great idea," said Mary Comerio, a professor at UC Berkeley who studies post-disaster reconstruction. "The current program only covers catastrophic loss, it's extremely expensive and the deductibles are very high. As a result, only a small number of Californians even choose to take the insurance."

12% have earthquake insurance in California? This is the state where there is a nearly 100% chance of a quake over a century for any given place where the maximum number of homes have been built? MY GOD. Someone better tell the Chinese how superior we are!

This irritates me more than anything: stupid, bloated Americans attacking other nations for things we are much worse at or about. Like attacking China for polluting the air. Geeze. Wow. After 35 years of trying to clean our own air, it still stinks! In summer, in my rural mountains, pollution from Texas to Illinois travels here and makes the air unbreathable. This killed my poor ox, Dale, one hot summer day with high pollution!

So it is with earthquake news: the US is UTTERLY unprepared for ANY 7.9+ earthquake. Housing in the entire Madrid Fault zone has ZERO earthquake building codes that could sustain damage in a classic 8.9 quake like the one that happened 160 years ago! And the quakes in China were minor compared to the horror of the San Andreas suddenly leaping 55 or more feet northwards in one second when the entire middle section blows out as all geologists have said, it certainly will. A 99% chance of this happening! And how many houses in this 500 mile region have earthquake insurance? 10,000? 20,000? Out of 2 million, 5 million homes? WOW.

After one major earthquake in LA, I flew out to my parent's home in Pasadena to fix everything that broke. Many odd things were shattered or damaged. Including the main beam in the living room ceiling. I carefully fixed everything including putting in steel plates with bolts and cross bolting parts of the house as well as building in triangulation in corners. This damage was not from a direct hit, either. And the quake was not a 8.9 affair, either. I suppose most people think their insurance is 'will I be dead, who cares?' type of insurance. Unlike a hurricane when one can flee or worry beforehand and maybe remove valuables, with earthquakes we get ZERO warning. As we saw in China this week.

May 13, 1988

California Intensifies Planning for the Big Quake

Seven months after the Whittier earthquake that killed eight people, the authorities in California have redoubled their efforts to prepare this heavily populated and quake-prone state for the devastating ''big one'' that is almost certainly inevitable.

Seven months after the Whittier earthquake that killed eight people, the authorities in California have redoubled their efforts to prepare this heavily populated and quake-prone state for the devastating ''big one'' that is almost certainly inevitable.

Schools, businesses, government offices and other organizations completed more than 150 drills and other events in April, designated as ''earthquake preparedness month'' by Gov. George Deukmejian. He also recently approved a plan to convert scientific advances in predicting temblors into concrete warnings to the public.

''We don't want to be caught the morning after and have the press say we did not pay attention to foreshocks,'' Richard Andrews, assistant director of the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, told a recent conference at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. ''The main problem is being caught by surprise.''

But many authorities say nothing will prevent a calamity of unparalled proportions should a major quake strike the densely populated Los Angeles or San Francisco areas. It would be the worst disaster in American history, causing up to 14,000 deaths, according to Federal estimates.

The 1988 story was 20 years ago. The population of the most vulnerable state for earthquakes has grown from around 25 million to around 40 million during this time! That is nearly double! When that earthquake shook awake the dreamers in California, the oldsters all shook their heads. No one would do much to prepare for worse, they knew. And so did the authorities at that time:

Despite Whittier, public apathy persists. ''People are not compliant,'' said Norma Gordon, disaster response consultant for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. ''You can give them tons of information and the likelihood that they will comply is minimal.''

She said it was important, particularly for children, to develop ''coping skills,'' so as to avoid the psychological problems common after quakes and other major disasters, such as insomnia and depression.

''The biggest thing is apathy,'' said Charles Parcell, who heads security for the Pasadena Unified School District. He said two Parent-Teacher Association meetings a year are held to aquaint parents with disaster plans and typically fewer than 10 attend.

How touching. The chief worry isn't 'Where is the water? Where is my family? How can I survive?' but rather, bad dreams or anxieties. Mother Nature hardwired us to be anxious. This is part of our tools for survival. People who 'sleep like a baby' also get 'eaten like dinner'. So being easily roused and quick to react is how we survive. It is obvious that people are fatalists in modern societies. They just don't give a damn because they expect someone called 'Santa Claus' aka, Uncle Sam, to rescue them. Just like we rescue people from hurricanes unless, of course, they are blacks and slated for a nasty, violent form or urban renewal. Then they are left to die.

California has lots of minority populations, too. They should remember, the central government can play this urban renewal game more than once! And they shall. Even as we deride the dictators of Burma, the plans to play the same sort of games here are very real. Even as alarming quakes at the top and bottom of the San Andreas grew in volume and ferocity for a month, there were virtually no warnings from the government. Indeed, Schwarzenegger proposed more water channels that cross the fault lines. I see no moves to cajole Californian dreamers to install 250 gallon plastic agricultural tanks that can be the lifeline to survival in a building, just for example. These can be kept in garages, just for example. More important than a car. Indeed, if you run a hose from it to the house's EXTERIOR, one can get water even if the garage collapses! The more people install these things, the better the survival chance of the entire neighborhood.

But California is the land of brush fires raging in the middle of cities! And other disasters. So why bother with the really nastiest of these potential disasters? People just hope that the scythe passes over them and slays someone in China. Then we can sit here on our haunches and mock them for not looking ahead?

Good grief. The Furies and the Fates are being sorely tempted here to teach us all a hard, sharp lesson.

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Comments

[Blunt Force Trauma]

Sorry. This is off topic but this describes what has happened to a website that has a similar format as Elaine's. 'They' may be silencing those that disseminate and inform to stop the spread of truth and information. Someone just like Elaine. Scary stuff indeed.

More at this link:

Judicial-Inc Shut Down by "Military Order"

http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/6822

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

Looks like the gag order was lifted. Yes, we can all vanish in a flash! I have been repeatedly 'vanished'.

This happens during all wars, you know.

[dgh]

Most people aren't aware that they can get earthquake insurance. It is inexpensive here in the Northeast USA. The deductible is high ($10,000), but it will replace my house. Do you have it Elaine? It is not as important where you are, but it is a must in the Boston area. Big earthquakes have happened here before. Oddly, volcanic eruption coverage is included in my policy also.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

Dgh, I built and designed my own house. It is as close to impervious to earthquakes as possible. It is very strong with lots of rebar, lots of triangulation in the design so it isn't rectangular in any corners like 99% of houses built today. And everything that is important is tied into each other part with steel strapping or other systems that are very strong. It is possible to build a house like this but it costs money.

When 90 mph gusts hit the house in winter, we hear a faint flexing sound of the glass but it doesn't shudder or even budge. It is very strong and the walls are thicker than normal houses, too. The floor boards, for example are 2" thick. The floor joists are 2"x12" not 1 !/2X6 or 8 inches.

Building for the environment is important. A very ancient fault line runs north to south along Rt 22 just a stone's throw from my mountain hideout. But this is a very inactive fault, the Renssalaer plateau heaves straight upwards from the valley, it is one of the steepest roads in NY, my road, Plank Road that climbs this sheer face.

A famous accident was when a propane truck lost its brakes on this road and flung itself into Berlin and blew up a number of houses here.

[blues]

Honestly, If I had the Mao Power, my very first move would be to move California, with all its industries to Inland North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

In the meantime, California, and the rest of the West Coast should seriously consider buying up as many used firetruck tankers as they can find, and housing them in various relatively safe locations. They should be stockpiling bulldozers and temporary bridges, etc. at these locations as well. Just my two cents.

[rockpaper scizzors]

"The most powerful earthquake in China since 1950 shows the nation's insurance industry is decades behind....most Bay Area property owners don't have insurance policies that will protect them"

IMHO, this could a promo ad touting the "what if" fear and anxiety for and by the insurance companies. How quickly did the insurance companies respond to Katrina? How long did home owners wait for reimbursement or had to settle claims in court? How many insurance companies are tied into the derivatives game? CDO, CDS, and SIV's losses? What percentage of the premiums are tied up in Wall Street's Wild West Show?

Home, health, and car insurance should be government; state and federally owned and streamlined entities.

To quote a past relative; "Charity begins at home."

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

Correct, Rock. Getting insurance from a big disaster is like pulling teeth of a shark using a pair of pliers.

[Royal Dutch]

THE POX ON POLITICS AND EARTHQUAKES
VOTE WITH YOUR MONEY
SEND THIS OUT TO EVERYONE ASAP
http://thisjune5th.com/

[donh]

Elaine,
Sounds like a good job on your house. 20 years ago I had a roommate who was a structural engineer. He said that one of the biggest business areas of the firm he worked for was reinforcing existing buildings for earthquakes. Unfortunately, many buildings here are made of brick and rest on soft ground. They will be rubble if a big one hits.

[blues]

Dear Royal Dutch,

I think this is the real source of the "VOTE WITH YOUR MONEY" ploy:

http://www.halturnershow.com

(Search down to " WE BEGIN PLAYING HARDBALL ")

That site features little gems like:
________
____

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, US Secret Service, US Marshalls Service [U. S. Marshal Service], US Capitol Police, US Department of Justice, New York City Police, New Jersey State Police Office of Counter Terrorism and others repeatedly investigated Turner after those killings - and numerous other killings, beatings, arson attacks and bomb incidents. They lament, "He's coated with Teflon; nothing sticks to him. We KNOW he gets his audience to commit violence and intimidation, we just can't prove it."

That point was driven home emphatically after Turner personally beat the hell out of the Deputy Mayor of Jersey City, NJ, sending the guy to the hospital by ambulance. The local court was forced to find Turner NOT GUILTY because there were no witnesses and Turner's high-priced lawyer made a good argument for self defense!
____
________

You gotta see it to believe it. I cannot believe this individual can pull all this nonsense, or probably, fabricate all this bullshit, without being the actual agent of some sting outfit. He says he took over the "pro-White" movement after its former leader had a bomb placed under his car. Just the right m.o. for an agency!!!

[Royal Dutch]

Interesting, I found the link over at marketicker, I thought it a grand idea!