Readers React: Does it take two earthquakes to drown out media coverage of Trump?

To the editor: How refreshing that after two and a half years of media saturation with lies, half-truths and misleading statements from the Trump administration, we are privileged to listen to seismologists Lucy Jones of Caltech and Robert Graves of the U.S. Geological Survey.

These two authoritative figures, speaking in the language of unbiased, fact-based earthquake science, have truly been a breath of fresh air.

What a contrast between them and the blatant corruption of the Trump administration, with its platform of science denial in pursuit of the almighty dollar.

Ron Landesman, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Once again we’re reminded of how few California homeowners buy earthquake insurance. But for many of us, the numbers don’t seem to add up well.

My house in the high desert would sell for less than $400,000. Yet the insurance company insists on applying $600,000 in coverage on it. With the standard 15% deductible, my house would have to suffer more than $90,000 in earthquake damage before I’d see a penny from the insurance.

My house was built in 1992 of simple stick-frame-on-slab construction. I live about 20 miles from the nearest major fault, the San Andreas. I have a difficult time seeing how the house could incur enough damage to make earthquake insurance worthwhile.

Perhaps the L.A. Times could do a better job explaining how the economics of earthquake insurance might actually work (or not) for people in my kind of situation.

Bryan Baker, Apple Valley

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To the editor: For me, a 56-year resident of California who moved to Las Vegas in 2017 partly to escape the earthquakes, reality hit home on July 5.

As I watched TV in my condo alone — on the 24th floor of my building — an all-too-familiar shaking occurred that seemed to last forever. I became convinced that my building would topple, burying me alive.

When the shaking finally stopped and I determined that everything was OK, I literally kissed the wood floor, so relieved.

David Tulanian, Las Vegas

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To the editor: Wouldn’t you know California would do something to upstage Trump’s Fourth of July party in Washington?

Jean Koch, Los Angeles

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