Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake Strikes Peru’s Central Coast

BOSTON, Oct. 29, 2011 — According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurred near the coast of central Peru today at 18:54 UTC (1:54 pm local time). According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake occurred at a depth of approximately 20 miles. Current indications from the USGS Centroid Moment Solution suggest that this was a subduction event in the collision zone between the Nazca oceanic plate and the South American continental plate. The epicenter was about 180 miles (286 kilometers) south-southeast of the capital…

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Search and Rescue Still Under Way in Eastern Turkey; Nearly 1,000 Buildings Reported to Have Collapsed

According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, it is still in the early aftermath of the earthquake that struck near the city of Van in eastern Turkey, and damage assessments are only just emerging. Damage in the cities of Van and Ercis is widespread, and aftershocks, of which there have been more than 200, remain a concern. The U.S. Geological Survey has issued a moment magnitude estimate of 7.2 for the event and a relatively shallow focal depth of 20 km, which will have exacerbated the damage. “The tectonic setting…

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Colorado continues to be rocked by aftershocks from last week’s quake, insurers highlighting the importance of protection

Last week, Colorado was rocked by a magnitude-5.3 earthquake that went largely unnoticed as it was a mere two hours before the now infamous Virginia earthquake. Both events triggered mild panic and dismay due to their rarity. While Virginia and its neighboring states have been rattled by a handful of weak aftershocks, Colorado has been shaken by a total of 13 so far. Insurance companies are taking this opportunity to promote earthquake coverage in the hopes of bolstering the meager number of such policies nationwide. Colorado’s quake was the largest…

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Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake Strikes Virginia and Rattles the Eastern United States

According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, the largest earthquake to strike Virginia in more than a century rattled buildings in downtown Richmond and caused evacuations across the east coast today. A strong earthquake struck at 17:51 UTC (1:51 p.m. local time) near Mineral, Virginia, a town with a population of about 500. The epicenter was about 40 miles northwest of the state capital, Richmond, and about 83 miles southwest of Washington, DC. The USGS issued a preliminary magnitude estimate of 5.8, revised it upward to 5.9, and subsequently downward…

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Read carefully…insurance policies carry nuclear exclusions

Insurance companies are reeling from the possible cost of the disaster in Japan. It will be weeks before the entirety of the damages can be put into any kind of perspective to be tallied. It isn’t just the property damage and the economic loss; the lives that were lost will also be a factor. Another aspect of this disaster is the nuclear contamination from damaged reactors.  Most traditional policies exclude coverage for nuclear accidents. There is more to assessing damage than people might realize. You have to determine what was…

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