PORTLAND -- Homeowners affected by Wednesday’s land and house slide in Southwest Portland have no doubt been poring over their insurance policies.

One local insurance expert says that most policies in the Portland area do not cover landslides, and that doing so would be unfair to the majority of metro residents.

Insurers say landslide insurance coverage would make premiums for flatlanders higher, in order to cover the risks of those living on steep hillsides, as was the case in Wednesday’s house slide.

Those who do live on steep inclines would need to purchase a special policy.

Northwest Insurance Council Regional Director Casey Klaviter says it’s been a long while since homeowners have had to cope with a landslide.

Klaviter watched Wednesday’s events play out just like everyone else in the city. The non-profit insurance director said he couldn’t help but hope the affected homeowners had sufficient coverage.

"That's not something that's typically covered under most homeowners' policies," he said.

Landsides are grouped with other natural but rare disasters like earthquakes and floods by insurers. And these instances are only covered with an extra policy.

"When you're talking about a homeowner’s policy, you're talking about a home and the contents that are in it -- not the home to be moved from the ground it’s on," Klaviter said.

When a landslide does occur, it’s often in a high risk area and results in severe damage. Consequently, special slide insurance isn’t cheap.

The average policy for a $300,000 home in the area would cost about $1,000 a year, in addition to the costs of a standard policy, experts say.

"Spending a thousand dollars for the coverage of your home versus losing everything in a 300-foot slide -- that's a big risk and it's a matter of if you want to take that risk," Klaviter said.

Some homeowners complain a standard policy should cover everything.

But insurance companies say that would cause everyone's policies to cost much more.

In areas prone to large slides some insurance companies won’t offer any coverage whatsoever. The National Flood Insurance Program will assume the risk in some of these areas, offering enough coverage to protect assets.

KGW Reporter Jack Penning contributed to this report.