Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

latimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 94 posts

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#11

Post by Zafira »

cgoecknerwald wrote: post #5

"Only 10 percent of California's 7 million plus homeowners have earthquake insurance – and the number has dropped by more than half since the deadly quake" (2014) You can get an estimate for an earthquake insurance policy with the California Earthquake Authority. [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/why-do-so-few-ca... [2] https://www.earthquakeauthority.com/

I understand why people keep bring up earthquake insurance, but it's not that many of us haven't considered it. It can be expensive to the extent that you are better off reinforcing your home rather than spending any money on said insurance. "The expensive deductible related to earthquake insurance are sometimes as high as 15% of the value of the home, which has many homeowners giving the insurance a second thought."[1]

Most insurance companies bailed out of the business of earthquake insurance after Northridge because when it happens, the claims are enormous. The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake was an indirect factor that lead to the Panic of 1907 due to the high volume of insurance claims.

[1]https://www.marketwatch.com/story/25-years-after-bay-area-qu...

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#12

Post by TimTheTinker »

cgoecknerwald wrote: post #5

"Only 10 percent of California's 7 million plus homeowners have earthquake insurance – and the number has dropped by more than half since the deadly quake" (2014) You can get an estimate for an earthquake insurance policy with the California Earthquake Authority. [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/why-do-so-few-ca... [2] https://www.earthquakeauthority.com/

I'm not clear how a CEA policy makes financial sense for a standard single-family, owner-occupied house. The only affordable plans have massive deductibles and only partial cost coverage. If "the big one" hits, it's likely that:

(a) CEA will quickly run out of money and I won't be covered anyway.

(b) The whole community will be ruined so assuming all of my family is still alive we'd best move somewhere else anyway (and a rebuild or undamaged house wouldn't sell).

(c) Some kind of government bailout or community help program will be available.

For smaller earthquakes, it's likely I'd either fail to meet my deductible or be unable to pay the non-covered portion (which has to be paid out first before they'll begin to pay for further repairs).

Am I wrong, or is there something I'm missing? I wish this weren't the case.

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#13

Post by cardiffspaceman »

So it was apparently widely felt but Ridgecrest-China Lake, where it seems to have been felt the most, is not very close to the major populations. You can see this from cgoecknerwald's second link showing the locale of one of the major aftershocks.

[1] https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci38443095... to save slight scrolling

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#14

Post by eof »

ralusek wrote: post #7

I feel like we're woefully underprepared for earthquakes. It feels like pushing away technical debt on a societal scale.

I think the lack of damage from this shows a high degree of preparation. This same earthquake 50 years ago would have likely been much worse.

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#15

Post by reaperducer »

notatoad wrote: post #8

>Gallegos said that the dried chiles hanging from a hook on her kitchen wall were all shaking. "It was surreal." was this really the best anecdote they could find to include in the story?

It happened 30 minutes before. I doubt the reporter had time to survey every person in a lesser-populated 500 square mile area.

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#16

Post by kenhwang »

appleshore wrote: post #9

I didn’t feel it in West LA but my cat became extremely spooked. He was in an ultra hunting mode, flat to the ground and scanning the room. I never seen him act like this especially for this duration. He wouldn’t eat treats or respond to anything. I wonder if it was just the vibration of the ground or if there’s some other factor alerting him.

I felt it pretty clearly in West LA. My dog decided to roll onto her back to get a massage out of the earthquake.

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#17

Post by squarefoot »

notatoad wrote: post #8

>Gallegos said that the dried chiles hanging from a hook on her kitchen wall were all shaking. "It was surreal." was this really the best anecdote they could find to include in the story?

I don't know, but anyway... If you happen to be under dried chiles when they shake, be sure to keep your eyes closed because the pain could make an earthquake much more pleasant. Been there done that, and that pain lasted hours... ouch!

On a more serious note, the anecdote might suggest that the earthquake produced very high frequency oscillations. Dried plants are relatively light and stiff so that a larger but slow displacement might be harder to spot by looking at them, but they could be much better at transmitting fast oscillations.

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#18

Post by JDazzle »

ralusek wrote: post #7

I feel like we're woefully underprepared for earthquakes. It feels like pushing away technical debt on a societal scale.

There are so many building regulations, and grants to help older buildings meet standards that were not in place when they were built, awareness and education campaigns, and built-in procedures and policies in place that a regular California resident doesn't need to let the fear of an earthquake take over their life.

California is as prepared as any state can be for an earthquake and it is constantly looking for better ways to be prepared.

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#19

Post by rjurney »

cgoecknerwald wrote: post #2

I felt this (near Caltech, Pasadena). I spent the entire duration trying to figure out what was shaking my desk. I hope this doesn't trigger anything larger. Does anybody know if this was close enough to the fault line to possibly affect anything? EDIT: I see they have updated the article to a 1 in 20 chance. [1] https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/ [2] https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci3844…

Small earthquakes are a good thing, not a bad thing. They relieve stress on the fault without having a major slippage. I think.

Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California

#20

Post by ngold »

eof wrote: post #14
ralusek wrote: post #7

I feel like we're woefully underprepared for earthquakes. It feels like pushing away technical debt on a societal scale.

I think the lack of damage from this shows a high degree of preparation. This same earthquake 50 years ago would have likely been much worse.

I was in Los Gatos for the epicenter of the 89 quake that was 6.7 I believe. It was pretty bad. It looks like this was handled much better.
Post reply on HN