Shreya Kalra
Natural disasters are notoriously unpredictable but Port of Pasco, Washington, is considering taking a big gamble when it comes to renewing its earthquake insurance.
Port of Pasco commissioners are deliberating whether they should renew the port’s earthquake insurance after ten years of no earthquake.
Commissioner Jim Klindworth suggested that the port should consider investing the $100,000 it pays every year in earthquake insurance into a reserve fund as an alternative.
The Tri-city Herald reported him saying, “after ten years of no earthquakes, we’d have a million dollars for the next earthquake”.
But Ron Foraker, director of airports at Tri-Cities Airport, is less than comfortable with the proposal, referencing predictions that an earthquake could happen in the Cascadia subduction zone.
Great subduction zone earthquakes are the most powerful earthquakes known to occur, and can exceed magnitude 9.0. In 2009, some geologists predicted a 10% to 14% probability that the Cascadia subduction zone will produce an event of magnitude 9.0 or higher in the next 50 years. Then in 2010, studies suggested that the risk could be as high as 37% for earthquakes of magnitude 8.0 or higher.
Another proposal being discussed by commissioners as a compromise is a higher deductible insurance plan, or just get insurance for the Tri-Cities Airport terminal, to cover lost revenues in case the airport shuts down due to an earthquake.
