IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

Is There Volcano Insurance?

If you are lucky, maybe your home only burns down.

Unfortunately for at least 24 people who have already lost homes, the answer to this question, Is there such a thing as volcano insurance in Hawaii? is no.

Living near a volcano is like living near the ocean. You "should" know the risks of living near natural hazards. But many measure risk by frequency of events and then take chances — given that "nothing happened here for the last 30 years that the people lived here before us" (a quote from my wonderful daughter-in-law, who I love deeply. They live 65 feet from an idyllic creek. What would it take for that creek to be a raging torrent? Rain maybe?

Anyway, you ignore hazards at your own risk. Many get away with it for years and years. Then, some have to pay the piper. 

 

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.