Another powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 at a depth of 8.0 km occurred around 20:20 local time on Friday 5 July near Ridgecrest in Southern California, a city with a population of nearly 29,000. The earthquake was just a few kilometres north-west of the magnitude 6.4 shock that took place on 4 July.

This second shock was more than ten times stronger than the previous earthquake. It was, once again, felt in the areas of Los Angeles and Las Vegas. So far, no immediate reports of major damage or injuries have been reported from these areas. In Ridgecrest, however, moderate local damage has been reported, such as fires caused by gas leaks, water main breaks and power outages as well as cracks in streets. Some injuries were also reported, however, no fatalities have been announced.

Damage assessments are ongoing from both the initial foreshock on 4 July and the earthquake on 5 July. Based on currently available information, Twelve Capital does not expect these events to have a material impact either on the reinsurance industry or on Twelve Capital portfolios.

At this point, Twelve Capital will continue to closely monitor the evolution of these recent events and will issue further updates should there be significant changes to the current assessment.

Please click here for a chart of the earthquake’s epicentre (Source: USGS, as at 8 July 2019).

Monday, 8 July 2019

Yesterday, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 at a depth of 10.7 km occurred 12 km south-west of Searles Valley, close to Ridgecrest in California. A few aftershocks up to a magnitude of 4.6 were recorded after the main earthquake (USGS). While this earthquake was one of the strongest experienced in California for several years, the epicentre was located in a sparsely populated area in the Mojave Desert thus greatly reducing the potential for damage. Localised damage in Ridgecrest was reported including power outages, cracks in roads and varying degrees of structural damage to buildings, however, so far no serious injuries have been reported. The Ridgecrest regional hospital was evacuated (according to CNN).

The earthquake could also be felt in Los Angeles, several hundred kilometres away, however, initial local media reports indicated very limited or no damage to the Los Angeles metropolitan area, including the airport.

At this point, Twelve Capital does not expect this event to have an impact on its portfolios.

Twelve Capital continues to monitor the situation, and will give further updates should the situation change materially.

Please click here for a chart of the earthquake’s epicentre on a population density map (source: USGS, as at 5 July 2019).

Friday, 5 July 2019

Summary
No new natural catastrophe events took place over the last two weeks that would be expected to cause major insured industry losses.

Other recent events
The following noteworthy natural events recently occurred during late June although, at present, these events are not expected to have a significant impact on Twelve Capital’s portfolios, or insured loss estimates have not yet been issued.

US storms
Thunderstorms hit the US between 21 and 27 June, including strong winds, from Kansas to Georgia. There were also hailstorms, wind and tornado damage in the Rockies, Plains, Midwest and the Southeast. Total combined economic and insured losses for several of these events is expected to be in the hundreds of millions in USD (Source: AON).

European heatwave and thunderstorm damage
A heatwave hit a large area of Europe and was particularly evident in France where temperatures reached 45°C, breaking historical records for June. Thunderstorms caused damage including flash flooding in Switzerland and Normandy – for these events, economic losses might be over USD 150 million (Source: AON).

Monday, 1 July 2019