Place a block using update hook - Drupal 7

place_block.php

<?php
/**
 * Place the views exposed search block.
 */
function YOURPROFILE_update_7001() {
  $default_theme = variable_get('theme_default', 'YOURTHEME');
  // Enable some standard blocks.
  $blocks = array(
    array(
      'module' => 'views',
      'delta' => 'a8f68d4dde938b83bf7656900d06a5bc',
      'theme' => $default_theme,
      'status' => 1,
      'weight' => 10,
      'region' => 'header',
      'pages' => 'search*',
      'cache' => -1,
      'title' => '',
    ),
  );
  foreach ($blocks as $block) {
    db_merge('block')
      ->key(array(
        'theme' => $block['theme'],
        'module' => $block['module'],
        'delta' => $block['delta'],
      ))
      ->fields($block)
      ->execute();
  }
}

Thanks for this!
It's still helping those who google, 7 years later!

😂 ha ha