06:52 PM PDT on Wednesday, May 31, 2006

By GLENN FARLEY / KING 5 News

SEATTLE - A major Washington insurer will stop offering coverage for earthquakes in the state, a decision that will affect about 50,000 property owners.

Allstate insures nearly 250,000 homeowners in the state and about one in five has quake insurance.

The move by Allstate has state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler concerned that other carrier may follow suit.

"I'm very concerned, because you never know, if Allstate is just the first of several that are going to take this step," he said.

Kreidler said Hurricane Katrina has the insurance industry re-thinking its exposure to mass disasters.  

And when they start pulling away from those risks, they start evaluating other risks as well, including tsunami's and earthquakes.

So far, no other insurance companies in Washington appear to be following Allstate.

"We have not found a trend that our insurance companies have stopped writing earthquake insurance," said Darrin Sangar, with the Northwest Insurance Council.

KING

Marshel Lvie's Lakewood, Wash. home will no longer be insured against earthquakes unless he can find another carrier. Allstate Insurance has announced it will no longer write earthquake policies.

Lakewood homeowner Marshel Lvie got the news in a letter recently that his earthquake insurance rider would not be renewed. Lvie has been a customer of Allstate for 30 years.

"I count my blessings, but this did come as a little bit of a shock," Lvie said.

He said a quote from his agent to use a different company just for earthquakes would mean higher deductibles, higher premiums and possibly less coverage. 

Customers like Lvie can shop around and don't have to stay with the company Allstate agents are now offering quake coverage through He has until the end of July, to find that important policy.

Allstate says customers buying new policies with another carrier could see the price of earthquake insurance go up, or in some cases even go down depending on where and how their homes were built.