I've lived in a couple of countries (Mexico, New Zealand) where earthquakes were a regular, if frightening feature of life. And also spent a lot of time in Japan. I recall, once in Japan, the house was shaken by a sizable earthquake which lasted maybe 5 seconds (though one's sense of time in an event like this gets distorted). Immediately, sirens were going off and loudspeakers warning about earthquake and giving out information. (not sure exactly what because I don't speak much Japanese). But what really impressed me was that within a few minutes...maybe 10? there were experts on TV explaining what had happened and that this was not "the big one". Well that was reassuring but what was not reassuring was the diagram of what we could expect when the "big one" released itself like a giant rat-trap with a under-plate springing to the surface. It did not look good to me. And, worse still, the fault was not that far away and I estimated that there would be a massive tsunami that could reach 5km inland where our house stood. And I'm still very nervous when we go to the famous Senbon (thousand pine trees) beach to watch the sunset.....because that's where the tsunami will hit first. And yes there are high walls ....maybe 15 m high to prevent the tsunami sweeping inland but I don't think they will be big enough to protect against the "big one".
So Andrew Robinson's book is not at all re-assuring about earthquakes. In fact, it's pretty much a collection of stories about historical big earthquakes.
A couple of things stood out for me from Robinson's account and that is that the science of predicting earthquakes is getting better but is totally unreliable still; Earthquakes are usually accompanied by collateral damage such as from fire or from Tsunami or from both; And people have tended to rebuild in the same spot and go on living. There is a collective amnesia.
In fact, in San Francisco there were massive and deliberate measures taken to downplay the significance of the 1906 earthquake. Interestingly, buildings were insured against fire but earthquake damage was excluded so there was an incentive to claim fire damage rather than quake damage...and people even set fire to their quake damaged buildings. The city fathers and railroad companies were keen to downplay the significance of the earthquake because of the impact on property prices and so the real impact of the earthquake was massively understated.
I recall my father-in-law taking me to see some of the impact from a 1930 earthquake along the Tanna fault near Mishima, in Japan. A footpath had been ripped sideways by about 1.5 m.so that the actual rip in the earth at this site was very visible. And in 1972, I was sent as the Australian envoy from the Embassy in Mexico, into the ruined city of Managua in Nicaragua after a massive earthquake there on 23rd December 1972. I recall looking across the levelled city and seeing just a few reinforced concrete buildings still standing. Most of the family dwellings made from "wattle and daub" walls but with tile roofs had collapsed with the heavy roof beams and tiles causing many deaths. Some 75% of the population were made homeless. Also, indelibly in my mind, is a three story school that had just collapsed floor upon floor like a house of cards. (Fortunately, the kids were home ...though that did not spare many of them). One has to question the building codes which led to this result whilst other better constructed buildings were damaged but still standing.
In fact, recurring theme throughout the book is the failure of building codes to be enforced and corruption allowing construction on re-claimed ground (which liquified when shaken).
I remember reading about the famous American Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, being ecstatic that his Grand Hotel in Tokyo had survived the September 1923 earthquake in Tokyo /Yokohama. (In fact, it was apparently so badly damaged that it had to be demolished...though the flat topped pillars had apparently done their job). It seemed that fire across Tokyo and Yokohama was the major cause of damage following the earthquake.
A recurring theme throughout the book (I guess the author's main point) is that earthquakes have lasting political impact. In Japan, he suggests that it led to increasing militarism in the country and the eventual impact on WWII. In San Francisco after 1906, the city re-bounded but with all its earlier faults. In India, in Gujarat 2001, the earthquake led to the rise of Modi as the chief minister. Post earthquake there was a flurry of infrastructure and industrial building for which Modi took credit....though there seems to be evidence that rates of growth were similar elsewhere in India. Nevertheless Modi got the reputation as a "fixer" leading to his election as PM of India. Often, it seems, minority groups have been blamed for earthquakes and murdered (Koreans in Tokyo in 1923). One leader seems to emerge from the pack as a significant "fixer" and this is Pombal...de facto Prime Minister in Portugal. After the Lisbon great earthquake in 1755, Pombal is reported to have given the blunt instructions: "Feed the living and bury the dead" and then got on with redesigning and re-building the city and surrounds. It is interesting that the clergy....immensely powerful in Portugal were greatly weakened politically.
Quite an interesting book. He makes his case reasonably well though the format (one earthquake after another) is a bit predictable and I would have appreciated some more informative diagrams, maps, photographs etc. I've given it 4 stars. ( )