A University insurance expert says Pennsylvanians will not be financially affected by last Tuesday's California quake. Instead, companies in that state may experience some difficulties in meeting clients' claims.

The tremor, which clocked a 6.9 on the Richter scale, ravaged the Oakland, Marino and Santa Cruz areas and claimed more than 200 lives. This has led to a flood of insurance claims pouring into California agents.

Experts say most national insurance companies should be able to weather this particular storm. J.D. Hammond, dean of the University's College of Business Administration, and William Elliott, professor of insurance, said nationwide operations will not be affected by the quake and policy holders in Pennsylvania will be safe.

Tom Thompson, divisional claims superintendent with State Farm's regional office near Philadelphia, agreed.

"The quake is only affecting our operations in terms of manpower," he said. "So far we have sent 10 people out from Pennsylvania to the disaster scene. Policy holders in State College, and in Pennsylvania as a whole, can rest assured that local and regional claims are being handled as normal."

Hammond said there is no accurate report of losses to Californians, but it seems the insurance industry may have to struggle to reimburse its clients.

"It is clear that the loss will be sizeable and could reach into 10 figures, approximately $1 billion," he said.

About 25 percent of Californians have earthquake coverage which must be purchased separately from homeowners' policies.

Jerry Parsons, a spokesman for State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Company in San Francisco, which insures about one of every five houses and cars in California, said teams of adjusters began pouring into the earthquake zone immediately following the quake.

About 7,500 claims have been made to his company, but the figure is expected to double. Payout for commercial and private property is projected at $30 million, Parsons said.

Hammond said the losses were troublesome because they had fallen hot on the heels of Hurricane Hugo, which devastated parts of South Carolina last month. Insurance losses for Hugo ran into several billion dollars, making it the nation's costliest storm.

"The property liability industry has been put in a tight squeeze in the last few years, prompted by severe competition both nationally and internationally," Hammond said. "It has also been experiencing a great deal of regulatory pressure. These things, as well as two major catastrophes happening back to back, have created a sizeable impact in a single year."

Parsons said, "State Farm set aside funds due to three light disaster years in a row, so we have been able to draw upon this resource and meet many of our own claims needs out of our own pool."

But he also said this catastrophe added another large loss to his company, which is still dealing with the aftermath of Hugo.

"I have to admit that we are stretched in dealing with both disasters," he said.

Parsons also expressed concern about the next big quake that experts say could be 30 times more powerful than last week's tremor.

"We are trying to prepare for the next quake by forming an Earthquake Project Coalition," he said. "Through this we are trying to develop a type of partnership with the Federal Government to make sure that when the 'big one' takes place, we have got the kind of financial resources to take care of it."