The California Earthquake Authority gained 23,861 earthquake insurance policies following the magnitude 6.4 and 7.1 earthquakes and aftershocks that struck on unnamed faults near Ridgecrest beginning on the July 4 holiday.

That’s the second-largest monthly net increase in the 23-year history of the CEA, a not-for-profit, privately funded, publicly managed organization.

The gain in policies seen after what geologists are calling the Searles Valley earthquake sequence is a net gain that takes into account new purchases and policies renewed during July, less any canceled policies during the month, according to CEA.

The gains weren’t unexpected. CEA CEO Glenn Pomeroy said in July that hits on the authority’s website were 10 times normal.

The number of policies gained far outpaces normal gains for CEA. The authority, for example, gained a 6,289 policies for the first six months of 2019 combined.

The July numbers brought CEA’s total policy count to 1.08 million as of the end of July.

CEA’s largest monthly gain was in September 2017, following hurricanes in the Southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean, earthquakes in Mexico and wildfires in California, when CEA had an increase of nearly 26,000 policies.

Read more