Property Damage
Has a manmade earthquake damaged your home?
Has an earthquake damaged your business, church or school?
Have you had trouble getting money to pay for these damages?
If a manmade earthquake has caused damaged to your property, you could be eligible for compensation. Earthquake damage is typically not covered by your home owner or property insurance. The attorneys at Laminack, Pirtle & Martines will fight to get you the money to fix your property damages. Please call our office at 1-800-805-2278 or for a free consultation.
Oklahoma Earthquake History
Human-induced or manmade earthquakes are causing significant damages to property throughout the United States especially in Oklahoma and Kansas. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, in the past three years, Oklahoma had 9,000 earthquakes greater than or equal to a 2.7 magnitude. In the twenty years between 1980 and 2000, the state only had a total of 40. Of the earthquakes in 2016, 21 were greater than a 4.0 magnitude and three were bigger than a 5.0. In fact, the state saw the biggest earthquake its ever had – a 5.8 magnitude earthquake on September 3, 2016.
Why the increase? Manmade earthquakes are increasing at a rapid rate and fracking is the link. As oil and gas activities have increased in Oklahoma, earthquakes have also increased. Oil and gas companies use a method called fracking or fracturing to force the gas and oil to escape from the shale layers deep beneath the earth. They inject a water and sand solution into the earth. When the oil and gas come to the surface, the fracking fluid or wastewater does as well. Companies then take this wastewater and inject it deep into underground wells under high pressure. When this is done, the wastewater changes the natural fault lines of the earth which causes earthquakes.
George Choy, a geophysicist with the USGS, was quoted in a U.S.A Today article stating that as hydraulic fracturing as ramped up, so have the earthquakes.
“The oil companies have said for a long time that these are natural earthquakes, that they would have occurred anyway. But, when you look at the statistics, that argument does not fly.”
Manmade Earthquake Predictions For Oklahoma And Kansas
3.5 million people in the central and eastern U.S. are at risk for human-induced earthquakes this year. The USGS estimates another .5 million people are at risk for natural causing earthquakes.
"The forecast for induced and natural earthquakes in 2017 is hundreds of times higher than before induced seismicity rates rapidly increased around 2008," said Mark Petersen, chief of the USGS National Seismic Hazard Mapping Project.
"Millions still face a significant chance of experiencing damaging earthquakes, and this could increase or decrease with industry practices, which are difficult to anticipate."
How Our Manmade Earthquake Attorneys Can Help
Our attorneys are ready to help you file claims to receive compensation from manmade earthquake damage to your home, business, school or church. Unfortunately, insurance companies are not paying for the damage and property owners need to take other actions to receive compensation.
If you’ve experienced damage from a human-induced earthquake, please call our offices at 1-800-805-2278 for a free consultation. Our attorneys have already helped other property owners receive money to repair damages. We can help you too.