When most people think of earthquakes, the first location they think of is not Charleston. They think of California, New Zealand, Asia and other places that have suffered recent major earthquakes. Because we haven’t had a major earthquake in 130 years, oftentimes people forget that Charleston sits on a major fault line.
The last major earthquake that Charleston experienced completely devastated the city. There was $23 million of damage. With the growth that the Charleston area has seen since 1886 the fallout from an earthquake today would be much greater.
Earthquake coverage is automatically excluded from standard homeowner’s policies, but coverage can be added back in by an earthquake endorsement or by buying a stand-alone earthquake policy. While Earthquake insurance isn’t required by most lenders, we do recommend this coverage. The nominal amount that the coverage adds to your annual premium is worth the savings you could see if we were to experience a major earthquake.