The ‘Hope for Haiti’ telethon has raised over £35 million for Oxfam, Unicef, Partners in Health and other earthquake relief groups.

Calls are also mounting to wipe out the country’s £1 billion debt to help it recover from the terrible devastation caused by the massive earthquake on 12 January 2010, which measured 7.0 on the Richter scale.

The trail of destruction and human suffering caused by earthquakes like this is unimaginable and a worldwide relief effort is underway to provide some relief to the thousands of people, many badly injured, who have lost their homes and loved ones.

Unfortunately earthquakes are a very common phenomenon, occurring between 20,000 and 30,000 times each year (and on average measuring between 4.0 and 4.9 on the Richter scale).

Many human populations live on or close to earthquake fault lines and live with the knowledge that they are at risk of losing their lives and / or property because of an earthquake.

In earthquake zones around the world work has been carried out to mitigate the effects of earthquakes, such as building ‘flexible’ structures for housing and offices and some governments hold earthquake relief funds to help citizens in the event of a catastrophe.

In California – the most earthquake prone place on the globe – it has become law for householders to take out earthquake insurance. In the US and the UK most home insurance policies to do not cover earthquakes or other acts of nature and therefore, it is sensible to take out separate earthquake cover so that you can rebuild and / or replace damaged household items should the need arise.

While not perceived as an earthquake zone, earthquakes and tremors do affect the UK. The most recent one was in Lincolnshire on 27 February 2008 and measured 5.2 on the Richter scale.

While the earthquake did not cause loss of life, it did damage some homes and commercial properties.

Since most home insurance policies do not cover earthquakes, householders were left to foot the bill for repairs themselves. In a more serious earthquake homeowners may even be faced with covering the entire cost of rebuilding their homes.

As recent events have shown, earthquakes can be utterly devastating. Earthquake insurance can provide a little comfort brought by the knowledge that financial help will be provided to help those affected rebuild their lives.

For more information on earthquake insurance, the providers, and the costs involved, visit www.earthquake-insurance.co.uk

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