Earthquake Claims Consulting
Building Analysis/Investigation
Ms. Strong started her career as a forensic structural engineer during the Loma Prieta earthquake that hit the Santa Cruz and Bay Area regions of Northern California. She investigated and determined the earthquake related damage to residential and commercial buildings in order to assist insurance companies in their evaluation of the claim.
Shortly after the Northridge Earthquake hit the Southern California region just north of Los Angeles, Ms. Strong again completed investigation of residential and commercial buildings on behalf of insurance carriers.
In 1998, Ms. Strong was hired to assist Malmgren Group in the readjustment of over 5,000 residential claims as a part of a class action that had been filed against a major national carrier due to the Northridge Earthquake. Malmgren Group was engaged by the court and was tasked with developing a thorough inspection protocol for each inspection which would also include a structural and geotechnical engineer at each inspection. Ms. Strong was the liaison between the engineers and adjusters throughout the program and was the lead in reporting the findings back to the court. Most of these protocols have been adopted by the California Earthquake Authority for their training and adjustments following the Northridge Earthquake.
As a result of the Northridge Earthquake, the CUREE (Consortium of Universities for the Research in Earthquake Engineering) group was developed. The owner of Claims Consultants Group, Gil Malmgren, Ms. Strong and Dan Dyce of California Earthquake Authority were the insurance contributors involved with the CUREE group. Mr. Malmgren and Ms. Strong provided feedback and documentation from the Northridge readjustment program which has been included in the CUREE report on General Guidelines for the Assessment and Repair of Earthquake Damage In Residential Woodframe Buildings
Claims Handling/Training
Ms. Strong has expertise related to earthquake claims and the proper evaluation of damages, proper repair techniques and the valuation of the repairs. Her involvement with the readjustment of over 5,000 residential claims from the Northridge Earthquake as well as her extensive handling of claims from the Loma Prieta and Napa claims has placed her as one of the top in the field.
Ms. Strong is available to assist in the review of the handling of those claims and to assist individuals with the proper steps of evaluation.
In 2004, Ms. Strong developed a full five-day training course as a result of the legislation in California which requires earthquake certification every three years. Ms. Strong was engaged by many national insurance carriers and public adjusting companies to travel to their location to provide training to their staff in order to satisfy their certification under the legislation. During Ms. Strong's employment with two national carriers, she was the earthquake expert for the handling of their earthquake related claims.