In February of this year, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake rocked the Fukushima Prefecture on Japan's east coast, resulting in losses that are expected to reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars, Aon plc is predicting. However, this wasn't the costliest quake in the past two decades. Nor were earthquakes in Croatia earlier this year, which were the strongest experienced in the country in 140 years, according to the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.). The Economic Minister of Croatia estimates that insured losses would be about $63.5 million. The above slideshow highlights the costliest earthquakes and tsunamis, ranked by insured losses when the event occurred, according to I.I.I. When it comes to homeowners with earthquake insurance, around 23% of insureds reporting having coverage for quakes, according to a survey by I.I.I. This is up from 15% in 2018. Homeowners in the Western U.S. were most likely to have earthquake insurance, with around 30% having a policy, followed by the South (25%), Northeast (21%) and Midwest (16%). If you find yourself in an earthquake, you can protect yourself immediately in most situations if you drop onto your hands and knees, cover your head and neck and hold on to your shelter (or head and neck) until the shaking stops, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Related: |

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Steve Hallo

Steve Hallo is managing editor of PropertyCasualty360.com. He can be reached at [email protected]