Low Insured Losses Expected From 7.1 Honduras Quake

NU Online News Service, May 29, 12:46 p.m. EDT

Insured losses are expected to be minimal after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Honduras early yesterday morning, according to AIR Worldwide.

The Boston, Mass., risk modeling firm said insurers will largely be spared because the quake occurred well offshore and the majority of affected properties are not insured against earthquake risk.

The earthquake hit 39 miles northeast of Roatan, the largest of Honduras' three Bay Islands, AIR said, shaking the area for more than 30 seconds and toppling homes and other buildings.

Damage was also reported in neighboring Guatemala and other Central American countries, AIR said, and a tsunami alert was briefly triggered for much of Central America's Caribbean coast.

Despite its proximity to a very active fault line, Peeranan Towashiraporn, senior engineer at AIR, said: "Honduras is the only country in the region where there are no official seismic provisions for design codes. Construction has been strongly influenced by historical connections with Spain and Britain. Perhaps 15 percent of total building stock is unreinforced masonry, which is among the construction types most vulnerable to ground shaking."