Nothing is more scary, disconcerting, confusing and just downright un-natural than the feeling of the earth moving under your house, feet, chair at the office. Nothing. The ground shouldn’t move. Rivers, yes, ocean, okay, earth, not so much. This is a great visual of where the shaking happens most (check out the upper left picture….the locations look like a bunch of bumble bees lined up): http://www.google.com/images?rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS397US397&q=where+earthquakes+occur&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&sa=X&ei=-wiWTf_8F4ndiALyk8zsCA&ved=0CDgQsAQ&biw=1660&bih=774
Fact: the earth does move. Fact: you can prepare for that move if you live in a place where it does……move. A lot has been said and printed regarding preparing. There are bags to pack, water and food to store and insurance to buy. I wanted to go over some insurance factoids that might be of interest in your preparation and purchase:
- Earthquake insurance covers the “named peril”: earthquake. If your house burns down, but there was no earthquake, this policy will not respond.
- If, during an earthquake, your home slides down a hillside, or a hillside slides down on it, that is NOT covered.
- There is a policy called Difference In Condition that will cover earth movement of sliding sort. A Difference In Condition policy will also cover flood insurance. So, in this one policy you could cover earthquake, land movement (as it affects your house) and flood.
- The deductible is the first dollar on any claim to be paid. With an earthquake policy, the deductible is a percentage of the amount for which your house is covered. If your house is covered for $100,000 and your deductible is 5%, your deductible is $5,000, 10%, $10,000, etc. If the damage to your home is your deductible amount or less, the policy will not respond. Some would say “why have insurance then”. Which would you rather have to pay: $10,000 for your deductible or $100,000 for a new house (while you’re still paying the original mortgage on that house)?
When the shaking starts, stay safe. When it’s over and you have earthquake insurance, call us. When it’s over and you don’t have insurance, clean up as best you can and call us for insurance to be in place for the next one.
SILVERMARK: 1-800-659-7363.