Earthquake Insurance

[adias]

Do most people carry earthquake insurance and what does it cost? Is it mandatory for a mortgage?

[radioguy]

I have never owned a house without earthquake insurance. My insurance costs about $1450 a year. The bank does not require earthquake insurance. They did require hurricane insurance which is about $450 per year. My real estate agent seem to think it was odd that I was factoring the cost of earthquake insurance into my monthly costs. During my research on the big island, the 1951 mag 6.9 Kona quake was all I needed to see to know I needed coverage. One odd thing, notice that hurricane insurance is cheap, and earthquake insurance is somewhat expensive. That should tell you something about what insurance companies are really worried about on the big island.



Edited by - radioguy on 10/17/2006 19:50:56

[adias]

Appreciate the information RadioGuy. I am guessing that due to the infrequency of major earthquakes on the Puna side, most people defer this type of insurance. I remember mild earthquakes while living there, never thought much of it. As far as I understand, there are no major earthquake faults around Hawaii.

According to the interesting article below by the USGA “Most of Hawaii's earthquakes are directly related to volcanic activity and are caused by magma moving beneath the earth's surface.” http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/hazards/earthquakes.html

Historically most of Puna appear to be safe from damaging earthquakes.

[Kapohocat]

What is the deductable on earthquake insurance typically?