In the United States, insurance companies stop selling coverage for a few weeks after a sizeable earthquake has occurred. This is because damaging aftershocks can occur after the initial quake, and rarely, it may be foreshock. Although aftershocks are smaller in magnitude, they deviate from the original epicenter. If an aftershock is significantly closer to a populated area, it can cause much more damage than the initial quake. One such example is the 2011 Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand which killed 185 people following a much larger and more distant quake with no fatalities at all.