Seismic Isolation Rubber Use Spreads in Japan, Adoption Rates Differ by Region

When the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred in 2011, its hypocenter some 70 kilometers off the coast of Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, buildings were left devastated. However, this was primarily the result not of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake itself, which many buildings were able to withstand, but of the subsequent tsunami. As a method of addressing seismic activity, the use…