Category Archives: Earthquakes

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Arkansas Earthquakes Due to Gas Exploration?

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Arkansas experienced a 4.7 magnitude earthquake last night, with two more (registering at 3.8 and 3.6) following soon after. And, according to Scott Ausbrooks with the Arkansas Geological Survey, the 4.7 magnitude earthquake was the largest quake to occur outside of the New Madrid Fault System since 1969.

But Arkansas is no stranger to quakes. Since 2009, a series of tremors have plagued the central region of the state, more specifically, the town of Guy, population 563.

Since the early fall, there have been thousands, none of them very large — a fraction have been felt, and the only documented damage is a cracked window in the snack bar at Woolly Hollow State Park. But in their sheer numbers, they have been relentless, creating a phenomenon that has come to be called the Guy earthquake swarm.

So what’s causing these continuous earthquakes? Many residents think the gas companies are to blame. A few years ago they arrived to drill for gas and, soon after, the town started shaking.

Though such swarms have occurred in the past, way before the gas companies arrived, researchers with the Arkansas Geological Survey say that while there is no discernible link between earthquakes and gas production, there is “strong temporal and spatial” evidence for a relationship between these quakes and the injection wells.

As natural gas exploration has exploded not only in Arkansas, but throughout the southern parts of the United States, we are left to wonder if the next “swarm” will hit Louisiana, or Texas, or Oklahoma.

Southern California Gets a New Earthquake Plan

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Southern California just got a little safer when it comes to earthquake preparedness. Along with FEMA, the California Emergency Management Agency today launched a new plan to help respond and recover from an earthquake.

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It was a long time coming, Southern California Catastrophic Earthquake Plan (CATPLAN) is now a reality.

When participants began the planning almost two years ago, rather than planning for a manageable event, the focus instead was on addressing the highest, most critical and widespread consequences of mass casualties, tremendous shelter and housing needs, infrastructure calamity and enormous economic disruption.  By facing the “unthinkable,” what has been developed is a realistic, flexible and scalable CATPLAN.

“We know that it’s not a matter of ‘if,’ but ‘when’ the next big earthquake is going to shake California to its core,” said Bettenhausen. “Our number one priority is to ensure we’re doing everything we can to be ready for it, and have a carefully-crafted, comprehensive plan in place to enable maximum coordination between federal, state and local agencies.

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  This plan is not the end, but another critical step in our on-going process of planning.”

The similar San Francisco Bay Area Catastrophic Earthquake Plan was formalized in 2008, so along with the new plan, the bulk of the state now has another layer of security.

All Californians should take some solace in that — although us on the East Coast will still question the sanity of those of you who build your houses above fault lines.

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New Zealand Earthquake Bends Train Tracks

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In September, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked the south island of New Zealand near Christchurch. Fortunately, there were no reported deaths and only about 100 reported injures. The insured losses have been estimated by some to have eclipsed $1 billion, however, making this very real seismic event a very real event for the insurance industry as well.

But it wasn’t just insurers that were affected.

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As you can see below, one train track was permanently altered in what looks more like a Photoshopped image or a cartoon gag than an actual photograph. Sure enough, this actually happened — although no one is sure exactly how.

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Dave Petley, blogging at the American Geophysical Union, isn’t exactly sure what caused the strange deformations, but speculates that “The compression on the very strong railway line was accommodated when a weak point was found, leading to a comparatively rapid deformation to form the main buckle on the left. This then concentrated stress on both sides of the buckle, allowing the other (right side) bends to form.”

The lesson?

Mother Nature aint nothing to mess with.

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New Zealand Earthquake

Proposal Would Increase Earthquake Coverage in CA

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Surprisingly, only about 12% of insured households in California currently have earthquake insurance. For such an quake-prone area, 12% is just not enough and, luckily, a new initiative may provide a sharp increase in the number of households with coverage against such catastrophes.

According to a RAND Corporation study, a proposal for the federal government to support state-run catastrophe insurance programs would increase the number of people buying earthquake coverage in California. The plan would also lower both uninsured losses and government assistance following a major quake. The four main tenents of the Catastrophe Obligation Guarantee Act (COGA) are:

  • lower insurance costs
  • more households with earthquake insurance coverage
  • decrease in uninsured losses
  • decrease in demand for federal disaster assistance

The RAND Corporation’s study estimates that lower premiums will produce a 13.2% increase in the purchase of earthquake insurance from the California Earthquake Authority, the privately-funded organization that provides earthquake insurance to the state’s residents.

“While catastrophe obligation guarantees could substantially reduce earthquake insurance costs in California, they would ultimately have a modest effect on decreasing uninsured losses and reducing the amount of disaster assistance spending.” said Tom LaTourrette, lead author of the study and a senior physical scientist with RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

So, though the study predicts an increase in the purchase of earthquake insurance, a substantial portion of earthquake losses are expected to fall below policy deductibles. Thus, an increase in coverage would translate to “less than a 1% increase” in the amount of losses that would be reimbursed. So while COGA is expected to decrease the amount of uninsured losses after a California quake, it is not a total solution. The study suggests that officials consider other avenues for increasing earthquake insurance coverage, such as public education and marketing and new, more attractive earthquake insurance products.