Anti-earthquake apartment in Tokyo
Posted in Apartment, Japan, Live, Tokyo by admin - Jan 15, 2012
The Japanese archipelago is situated in an area where a number of continental and oceanic plates meet. As a result of which frequent earthquakes and volcanoes are very common in Japan. If earthquakes occur below or close to the ocean, they may generate tidal waves commonly known as tsunami.
Natural calamities are badly damaging nature and buildings in Tokyo. Some of them are deadly and some others are not. In turn, the same is damaging human lives, which is a matter to be concerned of. Many people lose their lives in these natural calamities. In such a scenario, it is important to choose dwelling places away from such zones. In Japan, all buildings are strictly required to have an earthquake resistance structure.
Tokyo apartments are well constructed to defend natural calamities. There are some Tokyo apartments that can resist earth quakes. These buildings have special designs to reduce the effect of earth quakes. Use of flexible materials is one method which can reduce the breaking force of earth quakes. When an earth quake takes place, building will become flexible and will resist the force. Earth quakes which occur in night time takes lives of many. People may not be able to realize earth quake while they are sleeping. In such situations, you can rely on buildings that can resist earth quakes.
There are various factors which affect the risk of disasters such as ground, shape of the land, density of buildings, etc. Earth quake can cause large oscillatory movement in buildings. If these movements are not controlled, buildings may collapse. Some of Tokyo apartments are provided with huge pendulums on the top. Building starts oscillating when earth quake strikes. Pendulum at the top will remain stationary. It produces an opposite force equivalent to that of oscillating motion which can reduce the effect of earth quake.
Even though these measures can defend against natural disasters to an extent, but one cannot completely rely on these structures.
It is obvious that in order to save lives in the future modern anti-seismic technology must be adapted by traditional Japanese construction. The challenge is to suggest solutions that will not prejudice the aesthetics of traditional buildings and that will not boost their already high cost. Hopefully a retrofit approach can be devised before, these traditional buildings, so much a component of the Japanese architectural heritage, are lost.