The First Property Claims Conference held its California meeting last Friday in Marina Del Rey. I met with Ken Kan and Denise Sze of our Los Angeles office for dinner in the marina. It was a spectacular venue with boats and a setting California red sun. We discussed the possibility of the BIG ONE hitting California.
Several hours later in my sixth floor hotel, I was thinking of the AC DC Lyrics:
"Cause the walls start shaking
The earth was quaking
My mind was aching"
And, it was not because of great sex as the song implies. A 5.1 earthquake struck and the building was swaying like a flagpole in the wind and the bedside lampshade bobbed like a teeter totter.
I love California, but earthquakes are scary. No warnings and nothing you can do to run or hide when you are on the sixth floor. Just wait it out and pray.
Maybe I am simply a coward and not used to being in a building that is rolling around. Californians seem to be used to it. Public Adjuster Matt Blumkin wrote me:
"This was a little baby quake. Have another drink.
The room will catch up to your head.
Good to see you."
So, to all my California brothers and sisters, I implore you to follow the Merlin Rule of Probability and buy lots of earthquake coverage. The Merlin Rule of Probability is scientifically and actuary proven and provides the following concerning earthquakes:
The odds of a earthquake striking you decrease with the more earthquake insurance coverage you buy and the better you prepare for its occurrence.
Positive Thought:
"God’s interventions are miracles: events that cannot happen by merely natural agents but only by a supernatural agent. They no more interfere with our free will than natural events like earthquakes. We choose how to respond to them."
And of course:
You Shook Me Up All Night Long
