From: Scott en Aztlán 
Newsgroups: alt.building.construction ca.earthquakes misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Earthquake considerations in House Hunting
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 22:04:37 -0700

On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 13:16:21 -0600, Hatunen  wrote:

>>As a mater of fact, buying a house in an area where significant
>>earthquake damage has occured can be a sound business strategy.
>>Suppose there were a major quake on the Newport-Inglewood fault
>>tomorrow with damage levels comparable to the 1933 event. Real estate
>>prices would be depressed, but only temporarily. You swoop in and buy
>>up a great lot with an ocean view in Newport Beach for a bargain price
>>because the owner wants to bail and move to Florida where they don't
>>have earthquakes. You clear the debris off the lot and build a brand
>>new house. Everyone else is rebuilding, too, and in 5 years you can't
>>tell there was ever an earthquake in the area. Prices rebound and
>>eventually reach new record highs, so you're sitting pretty.
>
>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.

That's true just about anywhere in CA. However, it's LESS likely in an
area where the strain has already been released by a large quake than
in some area that has been locked up tight for 50 years.

>You're playing the odds

You're doing that anywhere you buy in CA.

>and you won't have good enough
>insurance to cover your losses.

That's true everywhere in CA, not just in places where quakes have
recently struck. Regular companies refuse to write policies here, so
all we have is CEA with their limited pool of funds and high
deductibles.

>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.

Absolutely. But the activation of adjacent faults may also take many
years.

>Except it may set up the for a quake on an adjacent fault. But
>it's your money; go for it.

Thanks, I plan to. :)

BTW, how's *your* earthquake insurance? Tucson has earthquakes too,
you know. ;) 

-- 
"I believe that forgiving [terrorists] is God's function. 
 Our job is to arrange the meeting."
  - Norman Schwartzkopf