Most Californians forego earthquake insurance

Mark Anton knows what it’s like to have the ground rattle beneath him. He experienced multiple earthquakes living in Seattle, and his partner lived through the 1994 Northridge quake.

“They were scary enough to instill in me to keep earthquake insurance no matter what,” Anton said.

But Anton is in the minority if Californians who carry extra protection.

In the year after the Northridge quake, nearly a third of Californians signed up for insurance through the California Earthquake Authority. Today that number is down to 12 percent.

“I don’t believe in it,” said Andrew Gater, who lives part of the year in Palm Springs. “It’s kind of like God’s will so I choose not to go against that.”

According to the USGS, parts of California’s fault lines appear locked, meaning pressure is building for a big earthquake. Yet insurance rates are nearly half of what they were in the mid-90s.

Insurance agent Tom Gleeson says many people are scared away by deductibles.

“They’re a stop loss policy, consequently they tend to have a 10% or 15% deductible,” Gleeson said.

That means a home insured for $500,00 would need to sustain $75,000 in damage before the insurance kicks in.

Anton pays about $100 a month for his policy, but says it’s worth it for the peace of mind in case the next big shaker strikes too close to home.

“Having a mortgage if your house gets totalled in an earthquake, you still have to pay the bank,” Anton said.