We heard, but did not feel, this near Pacifica
Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California
71–80 of 94 posts
Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 bett…
There's lots of regulations, but the regulations seem flawed by design. For example, in California at least, buildings need to be built to survive earthquakes, but not necessarily be functional. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-earthquake-legi... In the event of a larger quake, you might survive the initial shock but a high percentage of your city, including new buildings will need to be torn down. This r…
Also a really relevant article with great info-graphics.
"Buildings Can Be Designed to Withstand Earthquakes. Why Doesn’t the U.S. Build More of Them?"
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/03/us/earthquake...
Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
It was pretty close to Trona. Having driven through Trona, life sucks in Trona and today it sucked a lot worse. Lots of shaking here in the greater LA foothills, but no damage (though this house does have earthquake insurance).
Ah Trona. Not much out there to be honest. Here's what the view from Trona Pinnacles looks like: https://photos.app.goo.gl/LrML8TsBbZoW79t1A
Could be Mars
Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 (a…
> CEA will quickly run out of money and I won't be covered anyway. I don’t understand why insurance companies can run out of money whenever they need to pay claims. I’m sure they know they’re going to go under, why can’t they get insurance on themselves?
Some risks are just uninsurable, even for countries. Large scale flooding and earthquake damage caused so much loss that no one can afford to pay for it. The US is lucky it can issue debt cheaply.
Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California
#75Note that this quake was not on the San Andreas - it was in the Eastern California Shear Zone, a separate fault system near Death Valley. The epicenter was about 125 miles away from LA, and almost closer to Las Vegas (which also felt this quake). The limited damage was largely because it was far away from any populated areas - the nearest cities are Ridgecrest (pop 27,000) and Trona (pop < 2000).
It was also felt in Fresno, which is probably the furthest north large city (pop 500k) in the region.
https://earthquake-report.com/2019/07/04/moderate-earthquake...
Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
> CEA will quickly run out of money and I won't be covered anyway. I don’t understand why insurance companies can run out of money whenever they need to pay claims. I’m sure they know they’re going to go under, why can’t they get insurance on themselves?
What’s the incentive to purchase insurance? It will reduce their profits. If you are an executive of a company offering earthquake insurance, better to just keeps profits high now, make a high salary, and when the big quake hits, declare bankruptcy and walk away.
they're much more sophisticated than that. they'll do things like say the damage was caused by wind, not water. they'll influence forecasters to call it a "super-storm" instead of a hurricane, and for an earthquake, something equally creative:
- the building was defective/you didn't have it inspected by our experts, so maybe the foundation already had cracks from the last EQ, in that case we can't pay the claim
- insurance only covers up to 5.0/6.0
- although it was reported as a 7.5, you live 4 miles away from the epicenter, meaning the EQ was likely below a 6.0, in which case your policy doesn't kick in/we'll only pay 30% of your claim
- the EQ cracked a water main/gas line, and most of the damage to your house is from the flood/fire, which isn't covered under EQ policy. try suing the insurance of the utility company.
- we determined that fracking is likely the cause of this quake, in which case it's manmade and not covered. you can sue the oil company though.
- we checked the seismometer and we dispute the USGS reporting that it was a 6.0/7.0/8.0/our geologist has published research saying that current methods of measuring earthquakes are in question. so although we don't need correct science to collect your premium, we do need perfect science to pay any claims. Or if you settle now, we'll pay 40% of your coverage or else you can try to sue us and maybe get paid 10 years from now
- we don't cover the specific region where all the earthquake damage occurred/that requires a different policy
- we only cover incidental/secondary damage, like clocks falling off the wall (which, of course, you must have a receipt for and will be paid minus depreciation and deductible). your policy doesn't cover utility line damage, structural damage, or earth-moving damage.
Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the term you're looking for is "liquefaction map" - I only know this term because we're exposed to the risk here in Charleston, S.C.: https://sf.curbed.com/2019/4/15/18311670/earthquake-map-cali...
That is scary to me. Should it be scary to me? In regards to liquefaction zones and earthquakes? I mean, i recently built a fence and the moisture in the ground made me conscientious of liquefaction when tamping for my gravel and posts, how does this play out for SF in an earthquake?
You're probably looking for the "Liquefaction Hazard Maps" page for the Bay Area: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/urban/sfbay/liquefaction...
Disclaimer: I am a geologist, but I'm not a P.G., hence all that I say on this topic is bullshit. p.s., Does your conference have beer? If it doesn't, I'm not going. I mean, I'll be so happy when AGU rolls around, because, man, I'm thirsty.
Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California
#78I 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.
Nah, there's just not a whole lot in that part of the world.
When I lived in that general area, there was a 7.1 or 7.2 and I think there was one death. IIRC, it was due to a heart attack and locals joked it was in reaction to the amount of liquor bottles broken in some liquor store because photos of the broken bottles got splashed all over the papers as one of the bigger points of damage.
A train was derailed in that quake and I think someone broke their arm but no one died because it was going unusually slow for a passenger train, having been scheduled behind a slow-moving freight train.
We had aftershocks for weeks that interfered with my sleep. Some of the aftershocks were above a 5.0.
Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California
#79I 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.
Cats can probably feel or hear the p waves, which humans usually do not notice, and which travel faster than the more noticeable (to humans) s waves.
Here's a video of a bunch of cats in a cat cafe in Japan whose sleep is interrupted by an earthquake. They all wake up and start looking around about 9 seconds before the shaking starts, probably due to sensing the p wave. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ-p9qOhBv4
Re: Strongest earthquake in years rattles Southern California
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
They do, in fact! It's called reinsurance, and Gen Re (owned by Berkshire Hathaway) is one of the biggest issuers of reinsurance.
Alright, I'll bite. Does anybody issue insurance for the reinsurers?
Insurers often issue reinsurance for/with each other.
Both insurers and general reinsurance firms will some times sell their risk to investors (in the capital markets) through vehicles such as Insurance Linked Securities. An ILS provides one form of risk transfer. There are others.
In both cases, if the risk is tied to say, catastrophe insurance, then this offers (investors) returns uncorrelated with the stock market.