Allstate Insurance company will no longer be underwriting houses effective in July. No changes will occur for existing customers. The move is supposedly to "limit its exposure to catastrophe" such as earthquakes. Allstate has also trimmed coastal exposure in other states that are prone to natural catastrophes. Allstate has also stopped writing new homeowners policies in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida and New Jersey as well as in eight coastal New York counties. Source: CBS5.com.
Project Related
The Claremont Tunnel – Designed to Survive Fault Rupture on the Hayward Fault
The Claremont tunnel beneath the Berkeley Hills on the east side of Oakland is a water supply tunnel that serves over 800,000 customers in Richmond, Oakland, San Leandro and neighboring communities. One of the unique things about the tunnel is that it crosses the active Hayward Fault. Most of the time when you talk about designing for earthquakes you’re talking about designing to withstand the seismic forces. In this case, the designers needed the water transmission tunnel to withstand up to 7.5-ft of offset due to fault slip and still maintain a minimum level of service. (Photo credit: Sue Bednarz, Jacobs Associates, Inc. by way of Civil Engineering Magazine)
This post describes the relatively recent Claremont Tunnel Seismic Upgrade Project as reported in Civil Engineering Magazine (May 2008, v. 78, no. 5, pp 58-63, 96-97).
Available Resources
7.8 Magnitude Earthquake in New Zealand
Significant destruction has occurred in New Zealand as a result of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake near the town of Kaikoura, about 2 hours drive north of Christchurch. Video footage shows significant surface rupture causing damage […]
Geologic Hazards
GEER Report Released for 2018 Anchorage Earthquake
The Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association has released Version 1.0 of their report for the November 30, 2018, M7.0 Anchorage Earthquake. The GEER Phase I team collaborated closely with a number of other agencies […]