The Governing Board of the California Earthquake Authority gave its approval to a $300,000 research project aimed at providing new guidelines for the earthquake insurance claim process, as well as improving repairs to damaged homes. While close to 98 percent of the single-family homes in California are built of woodframe, scant research has been conducted to determine how this type of construction withstands earthquakes.
“The research will test several earthquake damage repair methods for walls and concrete to determine which provide the most effective repairs,” said CEA spokesman Mark Leonard. California Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREe), a consortium of the state’s main university-based earthquake engineering institutes, will conduct the research as an extension of a major study of woodframe homes funded by FEMA.
The CEA-sponsored portion of the study will assist claims adjusters and engineers to more effectively complete their jobs following an earthquake. A lack of standardized procedures for assessing quake damage has been an issue concerning earthquake coverage.
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