Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner’s Advice: Buy Earthquake Coverage

• Joe Wertz
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  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

State of Oklahoma

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak

A week after the U.S. Geological Survey warned of increased earthquake risk in central Oklahoma, possibly because of oil and gas activity, state Insurance Commissioner John Doak is urging Oklahomans to buy earthquake insurance.

Most homeowners and renters policies don’t cover earthquake damage, which can cost $100-$150 a year, the The Oklahoman‘s Brianna Bailey reports:

“With an average 40 earthquakes per year, we feel very strongly that this is something we need to be talking about in Oklahoma,” Doak said.

Oklahoma’s earthquakes are expected to continue and don’t appear to be naturally occurring, federal seismologist Bill Leith wrote in in the USGS alert. The federal agency is collaborating with the state Geological Survey to study the possibility that the quakes were triggered by disposal wells used by the oil and gas industry, which research by other geophysicists has indicated is likely.