World's largest artificial earthquake test site that can load a full-size building

• World's largest artificial quake test site (in Japanese), Asahi.com 29/10/02.
  (http://www.asahi.com/science/today/021029a.html)

This article introduces a earthquake test site in Miki City in Hyogo Prefecture, which is world's largest and can "destroy" a full-sized building of up to four stories.

It is believed that, to develop car bodies with good "passive safety" the automobile manufacturer should repeatedly build and crash car bodies and accumulate bulky experiment data. I believe that the same applies to buildings. Although it is apparently a costly experiment to undertake, it is the cost worth paying in a country like Japan prone to deadly earthquakes. I do hope many good results will come out of it.