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How to Protect Your Business from Earthquakes

Tips for reducing risks and mitigating losses should the earth begin to shake.

By Jayleen R. Heft | Updated on May 28, 2015
Just in time for the summer blockbuster movie season, “San Andreas,” an action-packed disaster thriller telling the fictional story of the aftermath of a magnitude-9 earthquake along the infamous San Andreas Fault in California, hits theaters. While the movie will undoubtedly be entertaining, it’s also a good reminder to be prepared for Mother Nature’s wrath.

Earthquakes can happen at any time of the year and occur without warning. While California has been the state most prone to serious earthquakes in recent years, there are many other fault zones in other areas of the United States. All 50 states and five U.S. territories are at some risk for earthquakes. As shown on the map below, 45 states and territories in the U.S. are considered to face “medium” to “very high” risk of earthquakes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), geologists and seismologists have predicted a 97 percent chance of a major earthquake in the New Madrid seismic zone of the central United States (including Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky) between now and 2035. A March 2015 forecast from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has upped the likelihood that California will be hit by a magnitude-8 earthquake over the next 30 years to 7 percent, from a 2008 report’s forecast of 4.7 percent. 

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