Quake Rates Vary Widely in County

Earthquakes pay no mind to ZIP Code.

But a set of proposed earthquake insurance rates, established by the state to give more homeowners access to insurance, uses the postal code to determine how much a resident should pay.

And the results are widely divergent.

Residents of the 93001 ZIP Code in west Ventura could pay $200 a year to insure a new $200,000 home. In the 93003 ZIP Code next door, the same level of protection would cost $900 annually. Likewise, Newbury Park residents (91320) would pay far less than homeowners across the Ventura Freeway near Cal Lutheran University (91360).

And that’s not the only surprise offered by the proposed rates released Thursday by the California Earthquake Authority--rates that are already under fire from consumer groups and the Wilson administration and could be rejected or modified by the state’s insurance commissioner.

Oxnard and Camarillo residents would pay two-thirds more than Simi Valley or Fillmore homeowners hardest hit by the Northridge quake.

Scientists caution that the calculations, based on a complex formula for determining seismic risk, are not as strange as they sound.

“Oxnard is built on soft sediments,” said Robert S. Yeats, a geologist at Oregon State University who has spent much of his career studying the county’s fault lines. “The Santa Clara River used to flow across that area. So when an earthquake does happen, there’s going to be a lot of Jell-O-like shaking in that area.

“But I can’t see why Oxnard insurance rates would be higher than Fillmore,” the former Ojai resident added. “Fillmore is right on the surface of the San Cayetano fault, which we expect to produce magnitude 7 earthquakes, whereas Oxnard is south of the Oak Ridge fault.”

Moreover, the fact that the rates are based on a homeowner’s ZIP Code bothers some critics, who point out that a single ZIP Code can straddle areas with widely different topography and earthquake risks.

Geologist James Fisher, a partner with CFG Consultants, a Santa Barbara company that advises homeowners and insurance companies, said the ZIP Code breakdown does not make geological sense.

“ZIP Codes have been created for the convenience of the post office, not by Mother Nature,” Fisher said.

“It’s not totally without value, but it has to be refined,” he added. “Otherwise, you would be charging unfair rates to some people.”

The rates--which also differ depending on the age of a home--could be modified by state Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush before the California Earthquake Authority begins to serve the state’s residents Dec. 1.

Billions of dollars in losses following the Northridge earthquake led many insurance companies to bow out of the earthquake insurance market. So the state created the authority, a privately funded, state-managed agency, to ensure that homeowners have access to insurance.

Under the new scheme, all providers of homeowners’ insurance are required to offer earthquake coverage, either through the authority or with their own policies. But critics have said the authority’s rates will provide less insurance coverage for more money than policies written before the Northridge quake.

The January 1994 quake prompted insurance companies to reexamine the risks of providing earthquake coverage in different areas and found that they were higher than they had previously believed.

“Some areas that used to be considered low-risk have become high-risk,” said Gary Barnum of Farmers Insurance in Thousand Oaks.

Barnum said low-lying areas of Ventura and Camarillo fall into that category. “The reason the Ventura areas have been upgraded is because of liquefaction problems.”

Liquefaction is the term used by geologists for when an earthquake turns loose soil--common in many sediment-filled areas like the Oxnard Plain--from a solid to a liquid state, Fisher said.

Dave Ide, a Ventura insurance agent who sells coverage from the American Automobile Assn., said he is glad to see the authority announce its proposed rates. His company is waiting to see what the agency does before selling a lot of home insurance, and with other companies bowing out, the coverage is in high demand, he said.

“Lately, we’ve been so limited with homes,” Ide said. “There’s a lot of people out there looking for home insurance and hitting a brick wall.

“Basically, we’re turning down business right now waiting for this position [on rates], so we’re hoping to get the word on this as soon as possible,” he added. “We’ll be happy once this is all sorted out.”

Bustillo is a Times staff writer and Helft is a correspondent.

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County Insurance Rates

Ventura County communities fall into four insurance rate categories established by the California Earthquake Authority. Here are the rates for every $1,000 of coverage and the affected ZIP Codes:

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Dwellings City/ZIP Codes Built 1979 Built 1960 Before All other or later to 1978 1960 construction Thousand Oaks / 91360 $4.50 $5.50 $5.70 $7.90 Ventura / 93003 93004 Camarillo / 93010 93012 Oxnard / 93030 93033 93035 Port Hueneme / 93041 93043 Santa Paula / 93060 Somis / 93066 Fillmore / 93015 $2.70 $3.30 $3.50 $4.80 Simi Valley / 93063 93064 Thousand Oaks / 91320 $1.70 $2.10 $2.20 $3.00 91362 Moorpark / 93021 Simi Valley / 93065 Ventura / 93001 $1.00 $1.20 $1.30 $1.70 Oak View / 93022 Ojai / 93023

City/ZIP Codes Mobile home Thousand Oaks / 91360 $11.85 Ventura / 93003 93004 Camarillo / 93010 93012 Oxnard / 93030 93033 93035 Port Hueneme / 93041 93043 Santa Paula / 93060 Somis / 93066 Fillmore / 93015 $7.60 Simi Valley / 93063 93064 Thousand Oaks / 91320 $2.45 91362 Moorpark / 93021 Simi Valley / 93065 Ventura / 93001 $2.45 Oak View / 93022 Ojai / 93023

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Source: California Earthquake Authority

Ventura County Faults

The threat of severe earthquakes is locked up in active faults directly under Ventura County. The Oak Ridge and San Cayetano Faults are among the fastest-moving of these, with rocks on either side grinding past each other at a rate of nearly 1/5 inch per year. The Santa Susana Fault near Simi valley moves even faster, at nearly 1/4 inch per year. The Santa Cruz Fault has the potential to cause earthquakes measured at magnitude 7.4.

Source: 1994 Working Group on the Probabilities of Future Large Earthquakes in Southern California.