Highlighting JAPAN

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Japan's experience with disasters have prompted the country to establish highly effective responses to enhancing earthquake readiness.

Yoshiaki Kawata
The Kobe tragedy has taught the importance of both self-help efforts and mutual assistance in the wake of disasters and containment strategies to minimize damage.

The high share of fatalities caused by collapsing buildings in the 1995 Kobe quake has spurred the evolution of antiseismic technologies.

Innovative initiatives are being made by local residents, volunteer groups, corporations, and local governments to bolster disaster readiness.

Damage from the October 2004 earthquake that wiped out roads and left mountain villages isolated has largely been repaired, and the affected areas are on their way to a full recovery.

Japan's earthquake-related countermeasures are based on research to learn the mechanisms by which earthquakes occur and to predict how much damage they are expected to cause.

Being an earthquake-prone nation, Japan has actively provided international assistance in the wake of major quakes in places like Sumatra, Sichuan, and Haiti.