What is DIC insurance? Why hillside homeowners need special coverage

Rolling Hills homeowners waiting for earth to stop moving

Just three days after a dozen homes in Rolling Hills Estates were evacuated over the weekend due to a landslide, officials say there is nothing left to do but wait for the homes to crash down into the canyon below.

ROLLING HILLS, Calif. - Weber Yen says he is doing "okay" but not great.

His home is one of the dozen beaten up badly by a weekend landslide.

He says since Monday, his home has fallen another 10 feet, and he thinks it will tumble down the hill.

"I think in another two days you won't be able to see it," he said.

He bought the home 13 years ago, so watching it drop and drop has "felt like a slow death."

Yen has homeowners' insurance, but Janet Ruiz with the Insurance Information Institute said, "Landslides aren’t covered under your regular homeowners' insurance."

Ruiz said those who buy or build on a hillside need special coverage - something called a DIC, which she says is a "Difference in Conditions" insurance policy.

You might think of it as extra earthquake insurance, but specifically for landslides and other kinds of land movement.

She said earthquake coverage wouldn't cover this because a landslide is entirely different.

A landslide is considered earth movement and it’s "usually caused by an accumulation of water or a deterioration of the land."

Yen said there was a water pipe break in April and thinks that could be the culprit that set everything in motion.

As for insurance, Yen said there was a reason he didn't buy the DIC additional coverage.

And that, he said, is because the cost is horrendous and also there's a 25% deductible.

Yen said in all the years before he bought the house, there was never a problem.

Now that all of this has happened, he's thinking maybe he should have.