California Quake to Cost Insurers Up to $1 Billion, Eqecat Says

[jakeXT]

The 6.1-magnitude earthquake in California’s Napa-Sonoma County region will probably result in insured losses of $500 million to $1 billion, according to catastrophe risk modeler Eqecat.

There remains “a fair amount of uncertainty,” and the figure may rise further depending on the full extent of commercial damages, including the quake’s impact on the area’s wine industry, the modeler said today in an e-mailed statement.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-25/california-quake-to-cost-insurers-up-to-1-billion-eqecat-says.html

[SheilaT]

1. I was watching a San Francisco TV station

yesterday via live streaming (one of the best things a bout the internet) and everyone they interviewed was shocked, just totally shocked, that something like this could happen.

And this was a pretty mild quake at only 6.1. Plus the shaking only lasted 10 to 20 seconds. If a truly big one hits, like say the Good Friday Quake of 1964 they'll finally learn what a really bad quake is. Something like an 8.2, and the shaking lasted for five full minutes. Luckily, that one took place in a relatively unpopulated place.

Or the New Madrid series of quakes in 1811-1812. A series of quakes over several months, four of which are considered to have been at least 8.0 had the Richter scale existed then.

[jakeXT]

2. Looks like some have earthquake proof racks for wine

With such an expensive commodity, some wineries here don't take chances. Many have built earthquake proof racks to hold those 500 pound barrels of wine. That alone may have prevented an economic disaster.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/billions-of-dollars-of-wine-rocked-in-california-earthquake/

[SheilaT]

3. I've been wondering for thirty or more years why more shelves

either in stores or in private homes don't have a lip that would keep more things on them in the shaking. Ships have them because they are constantly moving, so why don't more land-based places where earthquakes are likely do so?

[Warpy]

5. A lip wouldn't do that much good,

but shelving built on an angle to keep the heaviest part of the bottle lower than the stem and cap would work fine in any quake below an 8 or so as long as the shelving were anchored to the wall and the wall held up. Such shelving would be difficult to build, so maybe the best idea is to extend the sides of the shelving they have and affix doors to them that barely touch the tops of the corks and are secured with 3 slide bolts, easy enough to do and undo that the doors would stay in place unless it's time to access the wine. There again, the wine would hold up as long as the wall did with the shelving affixed to the wall.

I'd go for the quick and dirty doors, myself, should someone take leave of his senses before he dies and leave me a California winery.

ETA: the rising price of California wines might start to get wineries outside California the notice they merit. Some of the wines in other parts of the country are really nice.

[SheilaT]

6. Oh, okay. Thanks for clarifying this for me.

I know that there ought to be a way to protect lots of bottles, but I'm not sufficiently knowledgeable to know exactly how.

Luckily for me, I've never been a huge fan of California wines. Do NOT take this as thinking I don't think they're good, it's just that I happen to prefer a bunch of others. So I'll be slightly lucky in that I'll only see small rises in the prices of what I do prefer.

I'm in New Mexico, and we have pretty decent wines here.

[Warpy]

7. I know we do. Had a few good ones back in Mass, too, mostly white varieties.

If I could drink them, I would. One of my favorites of all times was a Riesling from Australia.

[Warpy]

4. Wine is going to get a lot more expensive, that's for sure

I can't drink it but I do use it in cooking and I looked with great dismay at some of the glass soup on the winery's cellar floor, mixed with wonderful wine. The stuff in the barrels will likely be OK as long as the bung held, but the "aged in bottles" good stuff will be in short supply for the next couple of years, at least.

It's just the really nice stuff that was being aged in the bottles that was destroyed. Sniff.