After a 3.4-magnitude earthquake reverberated from East Hempfield Township last week, Susan Trago, an insurance executive, was surprised she had few calls about earthquake insurance.
"We want to encourage people to be thinking about this," she said. "The last thing we want to be telling customers is that they're not covered after a loss."
Standard homeowners' policies do not cover earthquakes. Neither do business property insurance policies.
A homeowner policy requires an endorsement, or rider, which removes the earthquake exclusion from a typical insurance policy.
A separate policy for earthquake coverage is necessary for business policies.
The exclusion of earthquake insurance is "one of those things that's in the fine print," said Trago, commercial lines manager of Landis Insurance Agency in Valley Township, Chester County.
The independent agency on the county line insures individual and commercial clients in both Lancaster and Chester counties.
In Lancaster County, an earthquake rider costs between $45 and $120 for a $300,000 home, she said.
Location and age of the home dictate the cost.
"The older homes are a little bit more," said Trago. "If you're in an area that has a history, there are risk factors involved."
Blaine Dellinger, of Mountville, doesn't think his ranch home on Pleasant View Drive is at risk, even after it trembled in last week's quake.
He woke up in his recliner to the shaking and watched a lamp tap dance on the table as his dog ran barking to the bedroom.
Dellinger and his wife, Sandy, don't have an earthquake rider on their homeowner's policy. For one thing, he didn't know how affordable it could be, he said.
It doesn't change their minds, however. "We really don't worry about it," Sandy Dellinger said.
In Pennsylvania, earthquake insurance cannot be purchased until seven days after that area has had a tremor or earthquake.
That's because of the risk of residual tremors. And insurance companies don't want claims from an incident that happened before coverage began.
Deductibles range from 2 to 5 percent. Whether that's a percentage of the value of the policy, or the actual loss incurred is a matter of interpretation among adjusters, Trago explained.
That's because endorsements can be vague. They state that "percentage of the total amount of insurance that applies," or something similar, Trago said.
Not only are homeowners not flocking to add earthquake riders, many have cut their insurance coverage because of the economy.
Often they are lured to another insurer by lower rates without investigating how much their coverage will drop with their rate, said Trago.
"You want to review the policy with your agent to be really sure what you're buying," she said.
Homeowners aren't the only ones rejecting earthquake coverage.
In May, Salisbury Township elected not to purchase earthquake insurance for its sewage treatment plant in Gap. It would have cost $4,900.
Les Houck, township secretary/treasurer, said the midnight quake last week woke him up. Even so, he said supervisors aren't rethinking the insurance decision.
The plant "shouldn't be affected unless it's catastrophic," Houck said. "But if it's catastrophic, the plant isn't the first thing we'd worry about."
The City of Lancaster isn't taking any chances, however. It has earthquake coverage for all city-owned properties, including the water and sewage treatment plants. Business Administrator Patrick Hopkins said the city is covered for losses up to $135 million.
Lancaster General Hospital also has earthquake insurance.
"Lancaster General's facilities and their contents are insured for damage caused by an earthquake," hospital spokesman John Lines said.
Jeannette Scott is a Sunday News staff writer. Contact her at jscott@lnpnews.com or at 291-8689. 