Bloomberg News Service
NEW YORK — Insurers including Safeco Corp., State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. and Allstate Corp. are facing claims of up to $1 billion from the earthquake that struck the Pacific Northwest last week, according to an insurance industry trade group.
The Insurance Information Institute said in a statement most of the damage was around Olympia, Wash., near the epicenter of the quake. The bill for damages will be the third-highest among U.S. earthquakes.
Most claims are likely to involve damaged roofs, cracked walls and foundations and damage to cars, the group said. Seattle-based Safeco, along with State Farm and Allstate face the biggest claims, according to the institute.
"Structural damage will generally be confined to older, unreinforced masonry buildings and to isolated areas of ground failure," said Ahmet Yakut, structural engineer and a member of the survey team from Boston-based Applied Insurance Research, which prepared the preliminary figures.
Only about 12 percent of homeowners in Washington buy supplemental earthquake insurance, the institute said.
The earthquake that struck Northridge, California in 1994 caused $12.5 billion in insured losses.
The 1989 Loma Prieta quake in San Francisco caused about $7 billion in claims.
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