Most Californians yawn when the subject of earthquakes comes up, but for the worried few there is earthquake insurance. New policyholders paid premiums of about $70 million last year, and public interest is growing. But a recent state report warns that many insurance companies would not be able to pay off all the claims they would face if a quake the size of San Francisco's 1906 calamity (8.3 on the Richter scale) struck again. Losses for a quake of similar proportions, says the report, would reach $5.5 billion in Los Angeles and $3.9 billion in the San Francisco Bay Area.
These...
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