Earthquake Damage Ridgecrest CA 6.4 7/4 & 7.1 7/5

We decided to begin this Go Fund Me account because many of our family and friends wanted to help us out after being at the epicenter of the two largest earthquakes to hit California in the past 20 years.

 On July 4th, 2019 at 10:33 am, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake shook our town, breaking our 65” Samsung 4K television and some other glass items in the house. Secured shelves fell and broke, hitting Mike’s fishing room the hardest. Our Citron Crested Cockatoo, Marilyn was terrified. We were among the 13,000 people left without power in triple-digit temperatures.

Also, during this quake, Mike’s Silverado moved back and forth, slamming into the garage door and the wall causing damage to the front and back. We received a $1,250 estimate to repair the damage. We have a $500. deductible.

 We were very grateful and most of our community still found a way to participate in the Independence Day celebrations and began to coin the earthquake as the "Freedom Quake."

 Friday, July 5th, as we were winding down for the day at 8:19 pm we were shaken by a violent 7.1 earthquake. This was a terrifying experience, to say the least. It was nearly 10 times more aggressive than the first quake and left many in the community without power and phone connections.

 We immediately noticed water leaking out the wall and knew that our water heater was leaking. We smelled gas in our neighborhood due to several gas lines breaking. We turned off our gas and our water main. We proceeded to help some neighbors while experiencing many aftershocks higher than a 5.

With no gas and water, fear of a possible bigger quake, and increased damage on top of the first quake, we had reached our breaking point and needed to get away to decompress. We left the state for a few days. While we were gone, we incurred a vet bill of over $800 because Marilyn was extremely ill due to stress.

Upon arriving home, we noticed that our gas meter shifted and left a big hole in the wall. PGE was immediately called. They assured us that there are no gas leaks and it was safe to be in our home. Also the pump in our master cool needed to be replaced after it ran with no water in it, since we turned off the water due to the water heater leaking.

With our first inspection of the inside of the house, we initially thought we had very minimal damage. However, as we've been cleaning up the massive mess the quakes left, we have found more damage.

An insurance adjuster came by our house today and stated we have approximately $15,000 in structural damage. This is due to many cracks in our exterior walls, fireplace, broken windows, cracks in our driveaway, garage and patio. There is also some damage to the inside walls, including our closet which will not open or close due to the frame being damaged and the mirrored doors broke. We have been assured by the adjuster and a building inspector that our house is structurally safe to live in. we just need to keep an eye on the cracks and our windows due to the aftershocks.

 We also have a loss of about $7,500 in personal items, such as broken light fixtures,  furniture, the television, glass bakeware, decorative items, crystal vases, and several of Mike's Kistler fishing rods. This total includes the vet bill and damage to Mike’s truck.

 We are fine physically and healing mentally each passing day – in spite of all the aftershocks we have been having. We are extremely grateful that we are alive, and have a home to live in.

 Our community is still putting the pieces back together. First responders and the Red Cross, and other organizations have been great in helping our community - especially those that were hardest hit and lost their homes. It is a miracle that no one in our community had major injuries and there were no fatalities.

 We are thankful to those of you who asked us to create this go fund me account so that you could help us out by reducing our out of pocket expenses. We are unsure how much (if any) that we will get from FEMA.

 As far as Earthquake insurance is concerned, there is a $27,400 deductible. Our adjustor told us that there would have to be $27,400 in structural damage for them to cover the personal items. Regular home insurance covers nothing.

 Any and all donations are appreciated as well as your thoughts and prayers.

 
Extremely grateful,

Big Hugs and Love to you!

Mike and Cindy J Holbrook