LOCAL NEWS: Expert: Covid, other crises lower preparedness for Southeast Missouri earthquake (29/7/21)

NS. Brian Houston speaks at the start of the Earthquake Preparedness Focus Group meeting Wednesday at the Osage Center in Cape Girardeau.

Sarah Yinsel

spend c. Brian Houston, director of the Center for Community Disasters and Crisis at the University of Missouri-Columbia, spends a lot of his time studying naturally occurring catastrophic events in the United States and around the world. He was at Cape Girardeau’s Osage Center on Wednesday holding focus groups on What are the locals?? Living in the shadow of New Madrid’s fault?? Think earthquakes.

He said anxiety about COVID-19 appears to have pushed earthquake fears out of mind.

“I think we are all experiencing crisis stress? COVID, climate change, you name it. No one wants to think about another (potential) crisis or other concern. We are all ready to go back to normal. There are still challenges,” Houston said.

“We’re trying to understand how people in[southeast Missouri]think about earthquakes because experts tell us we’re too late for an important event. We want people to be prepared and aware of the risks and do what they can to stay safe if something were to happen.”

Houston said the university is partnering with the Kansas City, Missouri-based National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to come up with potential future options for affordable catastrophe coverage.

An emergency preparedness “bucket” is on display at the earthquake focus group meeting held Wednesday at the Osage Center in Cape Girardeau.

Jeff Long

“Especially in Missouri, we have people along the earthquake fault, and the number of insured people in the area has really gone down,” NAIC’s Lisa Grouchong said.

The retreat in the high-risk New Madrid seismic zone is astonishing.

The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance (DCI) says earthquake coverage in the region has reached historic lows.

“The percentage of dwellings covered by earthquakes in areas in and around New Madrid decreased by a staggering 47% from 2000 to 2020, from 60.2% to 12.7%,” said DCI’s Laurie Croy, who monitored the focus group at Cape Girardeau.

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“One of the reasons for this continued decline is the sharply escalating cost of earthquake insurance in the region. Since 2000, (insurance) costs have increased 760%,” according to a DCI release dated July 12.

focus group

One participant from Cape Girardeau, a 25-year-old former California resident, said insurance companies must find a way to make earthquake coverage affordable.

“When I was (in California), I was paying over $600 a month to cover the earthquake, which is outrageous,” he said.

He urged people in southeastern Missouri to set up an emergency preparedness kit for their homes.

“The mine contains slow-burning candles, light sticks, food rods, water bottles, thick gloves, a battery-powered radio, emergency blankets, a gas shut-off tool, a multi-use knife, and vinegar,” the resident explained.

A participant from Fruitland said he took out 20-year earthquake insurance with a $1,000 deductible, but the coverage was no longer offered by his insurance company.

What then

Focus groups will be held on Thursday in New Madrid. Houston said his team will also conduct interviews and surveys of up to 1,500 people from southeastern Missouri to compile a report that insurers considering offering new earthquake coverage can use.

The DCI report can be accessed at www.insurance.mo.gov/earthquake/documents/OverviewofResidentialEarthquakeInsuran…

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