The biggest earthquake in history? San Francisco isn’t even on the top 15 list! Helpful tips for preparing
This week marks the 104th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. For that, the largest US relief effort was mobilized, even more than Katrina. But it didn’t even make the list of the 15 largest earthquakes ever recorded.
In 1964 Prince William’s Sound, Alaska had a 9.2, which was the highest ever recorded in United States history. But take this! In the top 15 list of the most powerful earthquakes of all time, ever recorded anywhere, 12 occurred along the Alaskan coast! The largest earthquake of all time occurred in 1960 in Valdivia, Chile: the 9.4 caused flooding and a volcanic eruption. A recent earthquake news video indicated that seismologists record more than 27,000 earthquakes in the US each year! (most barely detectable but an indication of potential).
The US Geological Survey estimates that the next San Francisco earthquake will likely exceed $390 billion in damage. What about the seismic zone that stretches across California? Who’s to say that some other area along the fault line won’t be devastated before SF gets hit? Does anyone else think that seismic and volcanic activity has increased in recent years? What about the probability that a natural disaster will disrupt life in your area? Is that occurrence a real possibility? Would you bet on it? Well, you are… past disaster performance is always an indicator of future potential.
What type of hazard/exposure is your area affected by? Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, heavy storms, infestations? Incredibly, most San Franciscans are not concerned about their exposure to damage and risk. Does your company have locations there? Do your clients have locations there? Do your providers have locations there? The disruption to the US economy, insurance industry, and financial services will be staggering when the next San Francisco earthquake strikes. It can seriously affect you even if you are not there. How can you prepare?
An assessment of your risk exposure is essential. Not only should you have a plan for dealing with how it will affect you, your business, and your employees, but consider the following: irreplaceable documents, historical matters, intellectual and creative property, insurance claim documents, etc. they may be what allows your business to reopen if you are ground zero. Not an earthquake story, but consider this loss story…
A sad insurance story
Make copies and save them in other places
In 2009 there were two devastating fires in Santa Barbara, California. One took out the home of a very successful businessman, politician, and passionate collector whose base of operations was his home office. He lost bronze sculptures of all sizes in the fire (the fire burned so hot that a couple of life-size statues melted into a puddle of molten metal!), numerous works of art on paper and paintings, and everything else that goes along with it. to a well-furnished house. This man was well insured, on paper, with AIG (now Chartis).
The problem was that in the fire all the files, receipts, photos and records of the art collection disappeared. That meant the owners couldn’t easily produce for their insurance company.
• document how much they had paid,
• document and qualify the condition
• test the quality level
• document provenance (history of the artwork)
These four missing “details” for each piece of art meant that the owner had nothing to do for the insurance claim except an inventory sheet with minimal descriptions that was submitted to the insurance company. And the fight started…
After a year, three insurance agents, a couple of attorneys, a couple of independent adjusters and a lot of frustration later, the matter is still unresolved and the total settlement amount will surely be significantly less than the owners believe it to be. it is. appropriate or justified.
Devastation is at the heart of any natural disaster. But the idea of ”total loss” on everyone’s part is a rare occurrence. There is usually an “epicenter” of devastation, but there is also a wide path of affected people around the area of impact who are only marginally affected. Therefore, it always pays to be prepared.
Even in the event of a total loss, you can do some very important things to protect yourself and reduce your risk. Being better prepared in this particular sad situation could not have saved the content. However, copies of photos, receipts, appraisals, etc. stored in a remote location would have allowed this businessman to get a quick response after the disaster. “Redundancy” is a term used in business when multiple copies are kept in different locations for this reason.