More than 2.5K Oklahoma Agents Take Earthquake Coverage Class

With earthquake swarms steadily increasing in Oklahoma, the state insurance department reports that more than 2,500 Oklahoma insurance professionals have completed a one-hour continuing education course on earthquake coverage. Agents are required to one hour of earthquake insurance continuing education starting this year.

Earthquake policies can widely vary in the premiums, deductibles and exclusions. The CE course will help agents pass on these details to their customers, according to Commissioner of Insurance John Doak.

About 15 percent of Oklahomans have earthquake insurance, up from about 2 percent in 2011. Doak said he is concerned that a growing number of policies exclude from coverage earthquakes induced by man-made activity.

Oklahoma recorded 585 earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.0 in 2014, up from 109 earthquakes of that magnitude or greater in 2013. The state had averaged about 40 a year for the previous five years and less than five a year before that.

The U.S. Geological Survey has linked the rise in recent earthquake activity to wastewater injection from oil and natural gas production.