Chile Earthquake Offers Reminder That United States Faces Similar Risks

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NEW YORK, April 2, 2014 — The 8.2-magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of northern Chile on Tuesday, April 1, and resulted in tsunami advisories as far away as Hawaii, highlights the vulnerability of the United States’ to temblors and quake-caused tsunamis, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.).
 
Chile was also the site of the largest earthquake ever recorded in May 1960, when a deadly 9.5-magnitude quake and resulting tsunami caused approximately 1,655 fatalities and millions of dollars of damage in Chile, Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports. In addition, a February 2010 Chilean earthquake caused $8 billion in insured losses when it occurred, equal to about $8.6 billion in 2013 dollars, making it the fourth costliest earthquake and 13th most expensive natural disaster in history, according to the Insurance Information Institute and Munich Re.
 
This week’s earthquake in Chile comes on the heels of a magnitude 5.1 temblor on March 28 that caused modest damage outside of Los Angeles.
 
“Four of the five costliest earthquakes in the past three decades have occurred since 2010,” said Dr. Robert Hartwig, president of the I.I.I. and an economist. “The Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 remains the costliest disaster of this type in recent history, having generated $40 billion in insured losses at the time it occurred.”
 
Besides Chile and Japan, New Zealand has over the past four years been the site of two significant earthquakes, one in September 2010 and the other in February 2011. Together, the New Zealand quakes resulted in $20.5 billion in insurance claims payouts.

Top 10 Costliest World Earthquakes And Tsunamis By Insured Losses, 1980-2020 (1)

(US$ millions)

      Losses  
        Insured losses  
Rank Date Location Overall When occurred In 2020 dollars Fatalities
1 Mar. 11, 2011 Japan: Aomori, Chiba, Fukushima, lbaraki, lwate,
Miyagi, Tochigi, Tokyo, Yamagata. Includes tsunami.		 $210,000 $40,000 $46,378 15,880
2 Feb. 22, 2011 New Zealand: Canterbury, Christchurch, Lyttelton 24,000 16,500 19,318 185
3 Jan. 17, 1994 USA (CA): Northridge, Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley,
Ventura, Orange		 44,000 15,300 27,115 61
4 Feb. 27, 2010 Chile: Concepcion, Metropolitana, Rancagua, Talca,
Temuco, Valparaiso. Includes tsunami.		 30,000 8,000 9,564 520
5 Sep. 4, 2010 New Zealand: Canterbury, Christchurch, Avonside,
Omihi, Timaru, Kaiapoi, Lyttelton		 10,000 7,400 8,778 0
6 Apr. 14-16, 2016 Japan: Kumamoto, Aso, Chuo Ward, Mashiki, Minamiaso,
Oita, Miyazaki, Fukuoka, Yamaguchi		 32,000 6,500 7,039 205
7 Jan. 17, 1995 Japan: Hyogo, Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto 100,000 3,000 5,172 6,430
8 Nov. 13, 2016 New Zealand: Canterbury, Kaikoura, Waiau,
Wellington, Marlborough, Picton		 3,900 2,100 2,254 2
9 Jun. 13, 2011 New Zealand: Canterbury, Christchurch, Lyttelton 2,700 2,100 2,411 1
10 Sep. 19, 2017 Mexico: Puebla, Morelos, Greater Mexico City 6,000 2,000 2,100 369

(1) Data through 2020 as of March 2021. Ranked on insured losses when occurred. Updated by the Insurance Information Institute using data from Munich Re's Relevant geophysical events worldwide 1980-2018.
(2) Based on property losses including, if applicable, agricultural, offshore, marine, aviation and National Flood Insurance Program losses in the United States and may differ from data shown elsewhere.

Source: © 2021 Munich Re, Geo Risks Research; Wikipedia.

View Archived Tables

 

The earthquake that struck Northridge, California, in January 1994 is second only to the March 2011 Japan quake on the list of costliest earthquakes worldwide dating back to 1980, having caused $15.3 billion in insured losses at the time, a number equivalent to nearly $24 billion in 2013 dollars. The greatest loss of life due to earthquakes occurred in Haiti in January 2010 and in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and other Indian Ocean coastal nations in December 2004, with more than 200,000 fatalities in both instances.
 
NOAA has made significant upgrades to the U.S. tsunami warning system since 2004. The federal government announced in 2008 that NOAA now had 39 stations providing coastal communities in the Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico with faster and more accurate, tsunami warnings.
 

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