For those who didn’t feel it, Ottawa was shaken by an Earthquake on Wednesday afternoon. It was actually an interesting event (not the first one I’ve lived through here either), and the reports so far have some simple damage in some areas, and my guess would be many foundation cracks that may not be discovered for a good long while (or until there is a lot of rain).
Given an Earthquake is an act of God (in Insurance terms), most home insurance policies exclude this damage (at least mine does, if anyone thinks otherwise, please chime in, I would be glad to hear from other folks). Â My guess would be you would either have to have an Earthquake “rider” in your policy that you must pay for, or better still have a separate Earthquake damage policy.
How many such “riders” or separate policies are going to be sold in the next few weeks in the Ottawa area? My guess would be, quite a few, if they are cheap-ish, since I think we have just seen that Ottawa can get some very active Earthquakes (given this one was allegedly 5.0 on the Richter scale).
Moral of the story: Go read your home insurance policy and figure out exactly what is and is not covered by your policy, and plan accordingly.
Happy Saint-Jean Baptiste Day to mes amis en Quebec, enjoy La Fete Nationale.
