RATIONAL MOVE MADE ON EARTHQUAKE INSURANCE

Bill Emerson and other congressmen are pushing legislation that's designed to increase the availability of earthquake insurance in quake-prone areas such as Southeast Missouri.

That approach should be welcome news to those of us living along the New Madrid Fault, the most active seismic zone east of the Rocky Mountains. The fault runs roughly from Marked Tree, Ark., to Cairo, Ill. But in the event of a major earthquake, its impact would be felt over a much wider area.

Earthquakes can be a frightening prospect, as incidents more than a century ago in Southeast Missouri and more recently in California have shown. At this point, no one can accurately predict earthquakes. But what we can do is insure ourselves against a possible catastrophe.

Insurance won't prevent an earthquake, but in the face of expensive damages, it could make it easier for both residents and businesses to recover.

But that can't occur if the cost of earthquake insurance remains too high for some and is not universally available.

Right now, there are some areas in earthquake-prone regions where such insurance is unavailable.

The bill in Congress is designed to make earthquake insurance more affordable for insurance companies, which should lead to less expensive coverage for the consumers.

By spreading the risk to insurance companies over several earthquake-prone regions, insurance coverage would hopefully be readily available at a considerable savings to consumers.

Instead of an unwieldy government system, funding for the insurance pool would come from insurance purchasers and fees paid by those insurance companies participating in the program.

The bill is being reviewed by several congressional committees. We hope that Congress moves ahead with the measure.

One thing that is moving ahead is a major seismic study of the New Madrid Fault zone. The study, being conducted by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, could help determine earthquake hazards in the fault region.

That's a worthy goal, which goes hand in hand with implementing seismically sound building codes and other safety measures.

Coupled with a hopefully improved system of insurance coverage, we can take a responsible and practical approach to the threat of earthquakes.