From: ryeung@earthlink.net (Raymond Yeung)
Newsgroups: alt.building.construction ca.earthquakes misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Earthquake considerations in House Hunting
Date: 10 Oct 2004 00:56:53 -0700

Hatunen  wrote in message news:...
> >
> >Well, yes and no. Repair and reconstruction prices tend to go up in
> >the wake of a natural disaster; that's basic supply-and-demand at
> >work. 

While we're on this topic, does anyone know to what extent (and in 
what form) would FEMA offer any relief?  

> >As a mater of fact, buying a house in an area where significant
> >earthquake damage has occured can be a sound business strategy.

[snip]

> >Prices rebound and
> >eventually reach new record highs, so you're sitting pretty.

This situation is different, you know.  In this case, you're talking
about someone that has free/fresh cash to take risk.  In the original
scenario, someone has already committed big money in the property; it
is gone...

> 
> This is, of course, a definte risk, since there is nothing to
> prevent another earthquake from destroying your new house within
> some reasonable length of time, which might be as short as next
> year. You're playing the odds, and you won't have good enough
> insurance to cover your losses.

Yes, good point.  In fact, when the damages are done, we won't even
know if that is the big/last one.  Theoretically, it may well be the
pre-shocks.  More after-shocks may come, and right now, no one can
predict after-shocks time schedule.  Building a new property in temporal
promixity might actually increase your chance of getting hit.

> 
> And large earthqukes do sometime occur closely together; it's now
> theorized that quakes are not completely random events, but
> rather one may cause another nearby.
>