Wichita ? Kansas insurance agencies say they’ve been flooded with queries about earthquake coverage after Wednesday’s 4.8 magnitude temblor.

“We have been getting calls all day,” Matt Woodall, who works at a Wichita insurance office, said a day after the quake. “I haven’t had too many people ask about earthquake insurance before.”

Because Kansas doesn’t have a history of earthquake losses, the price and deductibles are low compared to more quake-prone places like California, The Wichita Eagle reported. The Kansas Insurance Department, citing statistics from the Insurance Information Institute, said only about 7 percent of homeowners in the Midwest carry quake insurance.

Traditionally, earthquakes have been relatively infrequent in Kansas. But after dozens of them rocked the state this year, with Wednesday’s the largest, more equipment is being brought in to explore what is happening.

The rise in quakes in Kansas and other states has raised suspicions that the shaking might be connected to the oil and gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, especially the wells in which the industry disposes of its wastewater. But a panel commissioned by Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said in a report earlier this fall that there wasn’t enough evidence to link the Kansas quakes to oil and gas exploration.

Earthquake insurance “is almost a no-brainer, especially with these tremors we’re having,” said Chock Chapple, owner of the Chapple Insurance Group in Wichita.

Adding it to a standard homeowners’ policy would cost $35 to $100 a year for a $100,000 house, according to quotes obtained by The Eagle from local insurance agents Thursday.

In Kansas, the insurance is available with deductibles of 2 and 5 percent of the covered amount – $2,000 or $5,000 on a $100,000 house.

According to the state Insurance Department, some companies have waiting periods of 30 to 60 days after a quake before people can buy quake insurance.

But Chapple said most companies have a much shorter moratorium on sales of one to three days after a quake in Kansas. On Thursday, his company insured a $500,000 home for $160 a year, he said.

The epicenter of Wednesday’s quake was near Milan, population 80, about 10 miles south of Conway Springs.

The town suffered structural damage to some of its older brick buildings and residents spent the night cleaning up broken glass and picking up belongings that the quake had randomly dumped from their shelves and cabinets.