Earthquake Engineering, a Japanese skill

With an estimated 25 small to mild earthquakes recorded every day and a strong earthquake every couple of years, Japan is the world’s most seismically active country. The country is located in the so-called “Ring of Fire” which stretches from the tip of South America, running the whole Pacific coast of the Americas, and through the Japanese islands and South East Asia. This is were most of recorded history’s strongest earthquakes and biggest volcanic eruptions occur, causing numerous deaths and destruction of entire cities.

While earthquake prediction is still being largely developed and consequently rather ineffective in most scenarios, the only other option is to create structures that can withstand such violent earth movements. Japan is one of the rare places that offer a dedicated educational course on the prevention of structural failure and the retrofitting of existing buildings to cope with seismic activity.