New Canadian earthquake zones devised: ICLR

A recently released study published by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) has devised new earthquake zones on which insurers can base coverage rating. The hazard zones, the result of analysis by ICLR’s executive director Paul Kovacs and research manager Robert Sweeting and based on research by EQECAT over the course of 2003, are detailed in maps covering Victoria and Vancouver, B.C., Montreal and Quebec City, Quebec, and Ottawa, as well as overall coverage of Canada. It contains relative risk of seismic damage by postal code on which insurers can base insurance coverage and terms.Canada experiences more than 1,500 earthquakes each year, and several times each century an earthquake is strong enough to cause widespread damage, the report notes. Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver are all located in areas of high to moderate risk. The most severe earthquake on record in Canada shook Vancouver in 1700 and was more powerful than the 1995 Kobe, Japan quake, which caused more than $150 billion in damage.The full report can be viewed at www.iclr.org.