Praying for Japan

A few days ago a massive earthquake struck off the Northeast coast of Japan and the ensuing tsunami and major aftershocks have continued to rock the country. It's amazing to see the rest of the world offer help in whatever way possible and events like this make us all realize how trivial many of our own issues are.

We had the good fortune to visit Japan in December and were overwhelmed by the natural beauty, respectful culture and amazing people.

There is no other country better equipped to rise from this better than Japan. Although there was little time, their civil service warning systems and earthquake engineering probably saved thousands of lives. What you don't see on TV is looting or the breakdown of society but rather a collective group of citizens working towards the common goal of providing shelter and safety for those in need and finding loved ones.

As we watch the aftermath of this disaster continue to unfold we hold Japan in our prayers and wish that you do the same.

Those who want to help can go to redcross.org and donate to Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami. People can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation to help those affected by the earthquake in Japan and tsunami throughout the Pacific.

We wanted to share a few photos from our travels throughout Japan as a reminder of what a proud and beautiful country it is that we hope to visit again.

Timothy Dahl | Comments () |

Todd

Thanks for sharing Timothy. As a person trained in seismic design I'm in awe of the success their city buildings had to withstand one of histories most devastating earthquakes. Their Country is truly an example to the rest of the world.

Charles & Hudson

Todd - Hard to imagine how much worse it could have been. I guess if we take a look at how buildings in Haiti were flattened we have an idea of what can happen when engineers don't take into account seismic design when building near fault lines.

Is this something you have to consider in New England?

Todd

Most of today's building codes now require seismic provisions. We are actually building two large additions for a car dealership along with renovating the old building. Both the new and old require significant seismic upgrades.

While earthquakes are very rare here in New England we do have the potential for a large intraplate earthquakes (we're not at a fault, yet you can have a quake from movement under the center of a plate).

So yes...we do design for them as seismic is a big part of the International Building Code. When I used to design bridges the same thing was true with the AASHTO design code for highway bridges.