Throwaway cities vs seismic resilience: How American and Japanese buildings don't follow the same path towards earthquake safety

2019-07-31T19:18:00-04:00

Japan, through both government mandates and its engineering culture, builds stronger structures capable of withstanding earthquakes and being used immediately afterward. The United States sets a minimum and less protective standard with the understanding that many buildings will be badly damaged. The two approaches reflect different attitudes toward risk, the role of government and collective social responsibility.

The NYT takes a look at the drastically differing approaches (and ideologies behind them) towards earthquake safety in Japan compared with the United States and asks experts what would be at stake in the greater, urban picture in the anticipated event of a very big earthquake.

"The debate over whether to build more resilient buildings in the United States has been held largely out of public view, among engineers and other specialists," the piece goes. "But at stake is whether places like Silicon Valley, Seattle, Salt Lake City, San Francisco or Los Angeles might be forced to shut down after a direct hit — and for how long."

In this shake table test, the building model on the right is equipped with a seismic base isolation. Image: Valentin Shustov/Wikimedia Commons.

While strict regulations and advances in seismic engineering in Japan appear to favor base-isolated structures to allow tall buildings to resist the shaking ground, the regulation-averse American construction industry over...

Watch Taipei 101's 728-ton mass damper in action during Typhoon Soudelor

2015-08-11T16:55:00-04:00

Like all supertall skyscrapers, Tapei 101 has a mechanism inside to help stabilize itself in high winds. [...] At 6:59 am, in the winds of Typhoon Soudelor, the damper moved by a full meter from its center position, farther than it has ever moved in the building's decade history. [...] Soudelor brought sustained winds of 100 mph, with at least one confirmed gust of 145 mph .

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Throwaway cities vs seismic resilience: How American and Japanese buildings don't follow the same path towards earthquake safety

Watch Taipei 101's 728-ton mass damper in action during Typhoon Soudelor