A 6.5 magnitude earthquake that recently struck the shore of Northern California didn't even come close to the devastation of the quake that destroyed much of Haiti on January 12. Still, it is providing a wake-up call about the need for earthquake insurance in California.

Homeowners are not required to buy earthquake insurance in most cases. Only about 12.5% of people in California have the insurance, said Pete Moraga, spokesman for the Insurance Information Network of California. That percentage is from those who possess a home insurance policy.

Catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide reported the Jan. 9 earthquake happened 13.5 miles deep — 27 miles west of Ferndale, Calif. and 33 miles southwest of Eureka, Calif., the county seat of Humboldt County. In comparison, the earthquake in Haiti had a depth of about 8 miles and its epicenter was just 15 miles from the city of Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital.

Earthquakes are among the most destructive natural disasters. Five California quakes have caused insured losses of at least $1 billion since the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906 caused $32.9 billion in losses in 2009 dollars, according to an A.M. Best Special Report released in November 2009.

January 20, 2010