Who of our West Coast CA Friends were Affected by or Felt the Earthquake?

6.4 is pretty significant I think, some in here must have been affected?
Didn't feel it where we live; we're 250 miles away. But a 6.4 is getting up there. Keep in mind, the Richter scale is exponential. For example, a 7 magnitude is 1,000 times more powerful than a magnitude 4.

Being a lifetime Cali resident the biggest I've ever experienced was the 1989 6.9 Loma Prieta quake while at work 30 floors up in the San Francisco Financial District. We thought we were going to die, seriously, and it did over $100K of damage to our Los Gatos home (in 1989 dollars). Then there was the Morgan Hill quake which was a 6.2 IIRC. I was at work in Sunnyvale and that was a pretty good shake. I've probably been through well over a dozen 5 plus quakes. At least. You never get used to them, especially if you're a homeowner.

Scott

If you want to watch something truly.....I'm not even sure of the word, watch the doctor's story starting at 18:00. You want a lifetime of PTSD?

 
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Didn't feel it where we live; we're 250 miles away. But a 6.4 is getting up there. Keep in mind, the Richter scale is exponential. For example, a 7 magnitude is 1,000 times more powerful than a magnitude 4.

Being a lifetime Cali resident the biggest I've ever experienced was the 1989 6.9 Loma Prieta quake while at work 30 floors up in the San Francisco Financial District. We thought we were going to die, seriously, and it did over $100K of damage to our Los Gatos home (in 1989 dollars). Then there was the Morgan Hill quake which was a 6.2 IIRC. I was at work in Sunnyvale and that was a pretty good shake. I've probably been through well over a dozen 5 plus quakes. At least. You never get used to them, especially if you're a homeowner.

Scott

If you want to watch something truly.....I'm not even sure of the word, watch the doctor's story starting at 18:00.


This has to be one of the most informative posts I’ve ever read in here. I remember the 1989 quake well from the safety of our Long Island, New York home most people were in awe at the devastation. I remember the raging fires in the marina district and collapsed bridges, it was surreal
 
slo town - just curious, did your homeowners insurance cover the 100k in damages? Do you have separate insurance just for quakes?
Yes, but with a gigantic "catch". First, back then we had "real" earthquake insurance that would cover the entire loss, minus a $10,000 deductible. This is far different than the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) insurance you get now. The only thing the CEA guarantees is that you will only get as much money as the authority has in its reserves. In the case of large scale damage in an entire region that would be far less than your total loss. But at least they tell you that up front when you buy the coverage.

But here was the unexpected "catch" in our full coverage AAA policy in 1989. We had to pay for all the repairs upfront, and only then would AAA reimburse us. This was because we had a mortgage and AAA was trying to protect the bank, and not the homeowner. Needless to say I was outraged and objected vehemently.

AAA finally relented, but only partially. We still had to pay for repairs up front in $10,000 or $20,000 chunks and were reimbursed for that later. Detailed receipts and proof of payment for the repair services were required. These were large sums of money back in 1989! And here is the hilarious thing. We had to take out a home equity line of credit to get the money to finance the repairs! I always found it ironic that the bank was willing to loan us money for a wrecked house. 30 years later it still p*##^@ me off. Earthquake insurance is primarily there to protect the financial institutions, not the homeowner.

Keep in mind too. Earthquake insurance is not required by the lenders. We bought it to protect us, not the bank! What a joke.

Scott
 
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slo town - just curious, did your homeowners insurance cover the 100k in damages? Do you have separate insurance just for quakes?
I’m curious about this too, we turned down earthquake insurance 16 years ago when we moved to South Carolina because supposedly we are on or near the Charleston fault line.
 
NBD. The 90s were scary sometimes. Lived about 50 miles from both the 7.3 in Landers and 6.7 in Northridge. The landers quake the street looked like to ocean it was moving so much. Very odd.
 
Yes, but with a gigantic "catch". First, back then we had "real" earthquake insurance that would cover the entire loss, minus a $10,000 deductible. This is far different than the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) insurance you get now. The only thing the CEA guarantees is that you will only get as much money as the authority has in its reserves. In the case of large scale damage in an entire region that would be far less than your total loss. But at least they tell you that up front when you buy the coverage.

But here was the unexpected "catch" in our full coverage AAA policy in 1989. We had to pay for all the repairs upfront, and only then would AAA reimburse us. This was because we had a mortgage and AAA was trying to protect the bank, and not the homeowner. Needless to say I was outraged and objected vehemently.

AAA finally relented, but only partially. We still had to pay for repairs up front in $10,000 or $20,000 chunks and were reimbursed for that later. Detailed receipts and proof of payment for the repair services were required. These were large sums of money back in 1989! And here is the hilarious thing. We had to take out a home equity line of credit to get the money to finance the repairs! I always found it ironic that the bank was willing to loan us money for a wrecked house. 30 years later it still p*##^@ me off. Earthquake insurance is primarily there to protect the financial institutions, not the homeowner.

Keep in mind too. Earthquake insurance is not required by the lenders. We bought it to protect us, not the bank! What a joke.

Scott
I've never had it in So Cal. Just hope if it's bad enough it's considered a disaster or the house catches fire from the quake then the regular insurance covers it.
 
I've never had it in So Cal. Just hope if it's bad enough it's considered a disaster or the house catches fire from the quake then the regular insurance covers it.
Good luck with that plan. IMO you have no hope to collect in that scenario. Earthquake caused the fire. Get bailed out by the government? Best case that'll be a loan.

Scott
 
Didn't feel a thing. However, Fortuna is about 250 miles from here and the quake was pretty deep. Plus, I believe the quake took place in a different fault zone than the two closest to me ... I'd have to check.
 
Yes, but with a gigantic "catch". First, back then we had "real" earthquake insurance that would cover the entire loss, minus a $10,000 deductible. This is far different than the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) insurance you get now. The only thing the CEA guarantees is that you will only get as much money as the authority has in its reserves. In the case of large scale damage in an entire region that would be far less than your total loss. But at least they tell you that up front when you buy the coverage.

But here was the unexpected "catch" in our full coverage AAA policy in 1989. We had to pay for all the repairs upfront, and only then would AAA reimburse us. This was because we had a mortgage and AAA was trying to protect the bank, and not the homeowner. Needless to say I was outraged and objected vehemently.

AAA finally relented, but only partially. We still had to pay for repairs up front in $10,000 or $20,000 chunks and were reimbursed for that later. Detailed receipts and proof of payment for the repair services were required. These were large sums of money back in 1989! And here is the hilarious thing. We had to take out a home equity line of credit to get the money to finance the repairs! I always found it ironic that the bank was willing to loan us money for a wrecked house. 30 years later it still p*##^@ me off. Earthquake insurance is primarily there to protect the financial institutions, not the homeowner.

Keep in mind too. Earthquake insurance is not required by the lenders. We bought it to protect us, not the bank! What a joke.

Scott
Good to know, thanks for the detail. We live on the West Coast (in Canada) and have purchased earthquake insurance on our policy but like all insurance dealings, you never know how good (or bad) the coverage / provider's care is until something happens.
 
Good to know, thanks for the detail. We live on the West Coast (in Canada) and have purchased earthquake insurance on our policy but like all insurance dealings, you never know how good (or bad) the coverage / provider's care is until something happens.
I'd review your policy, all 327 pages of lawyer speak.

Funny thing is, Sue and I had AAA insurance ever since we got married in 1977. Renters, homeowners, auto, personal protection, etc. Three years ago AAA canceled our homeowners because we supposedly live in a high fire danger area. Our neighbors with State Farm, Farmers, and the like? They never got canceled.

So I canceled all of my AAA and went to Farmers. That was three years ago and AAA still sends me US mail on a monthly basis wanting my auto insurance business back. They are hilariously clueless.

Scott
 
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