Today marks the 100th anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.  At 4:30 a.m. this morning, Mayor Gavin Newson and other city officials gathered together to mark the anniversary at the Lotta’s Fountain memorial in the Financial District which is dedicated to those who lost their lives in the earthquake and ensuing fire (the earthquake struck shortly after 5 a.m. in 1906).

Of course, very few of us around today could possibly remember the 1906 earthquake.  Loma Prieta is another story.  The tremors of that great quake even shook the State Capitol, where I worked in 1989.  Everyone who lives in the Bay Area today can’t help to wonder:  "when is the next big one going to hit?"  A big discussion point at dinner parties is whether or not you have earthquake insurance.

We bought our house in Oakland in 2002 and immediately began debating whether we should purchase earthquake insurance.  My husband advocated buying a policy; I thought it was insanely expensive (still do) and not worth it.  I won the argument for three years, but folded last month when we had three earthquakes on one day.  We are now the lucky owners of an earthquake insurance policy that costs us a mere (choke) $2300 a year and has a deductible of $73,000.  No kidding. 

I just received bill for the next year’s premium and was once again choking on the cost of the "insurance."  However, after being woken up from my sleep Saturday night to the sound of my windows rattling as a 2.8 quake rolled through Montclair, I felt a little better about having the insurance.  But if the next BIG ONE comes, it had better do more than $73,000 of damage to my house!

(The picture above is of San Francisco City Hall after the Great Quake.)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 18th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.