Feb 27 2008
Around 1,100 home insurance claims have been made within the first 12 hours of today's (27 February 2008) earthquake, with many more expected to come in over the next couple of days.
Abbey Home Insurance has already sent loss adjusters to the area to help customers affected and has made sure that its 24-hour claims line has additional staff to help cope with the expected demand.
Although many earthquakes do not gather such media attention, almost 200 take place each year in the UK. With one-in-four homes uninsured and some policies not covering earthquake damage, the potential cost of these ‘acts of God’ could be staggering.
Tony Beckwith, director of Abbey Insurance, said: “Like the floods of 2007, it is hard to prepare your home for unexpected incidents like this morning’s earthquake. These incidents can dramatically affect the structural safety of a home, but with a good insurance policy that offers comprehensive protection for your property, your ability to recover from the unexpected will be a lot easier.
"We would advise anyone affected to check their property, contact the relevant utility company or their insurer if they see anything unusual.”
The epicentre of the quake according to USGS 
Representatives from the British insurance industry have said that the cost of the earthquake which hit Britain early yesterday could be over 10 million GBP. The Association of British Insurers has said in a statement that the cost for the earthquake is "likely to run into the low tens of millions of pounds." 

The Senior claims manager at the UK bank Norwich Union has described the damage by saying that at the moment most insurance claims regarding the earthquake describe "minor damage such as tiles off roofs, breakages inside the homes and brick walls collapsing." It has also been reported that approximately 1,200 insurance claims were made in the first twelve hours after the earthquake hit Britain.

These reports come one day after the United Kingdom was hit by a 5.2 earthquake. Tremors were reported as widespread as Edinburgh, Manchester, Sheffield, Middlesbrough, Cambridge, London, Birmingham and Southampton .