A Place Were Two Earthquakes Occur Every Hour Except OnTuesdays And Weekends

Tokyo has a number of unusual and relatively unknown attractions -- the world's only tapeworm museum and a noodle museum housing the world's largest collection of pot noodle cartons come to mind.

But only one tourist site has been declared an official disaster zone.

The Tokyo Earthquake Simulation Center is located on the fourth floor of the city's Ikebukuro Bosai-kan fire station.It's open to the public and there's no charge to experience two minutes of terrifying tremors. 

 A serious earthquake with accompanying aftershocks is simulated every half hour every day except weekends and Tuesdays at Tokyo's Life Safety Learning center.

There are similar centers in Tachikawa and Honjo.

"The Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake brought about catastrophic devastation," the disaster preparedness tutor said.

Art of survival a way of life for Tokyo residents

"We must all learn safety measures so we know what to do in such an emergency. It might save our own life and the lives of others. Here we learn how to behave during a catastrophe. How to keep a cool head and a calm body. Our programs improve all-round earthquake skills."

"Residents of Tokyo are required to attend courses to enhance their disaster preparedness awareness," says an instructor.

"Children and salarymen all come to learn what to do in the event of an earthquake."

The computer-controlled earthquake mimics a quake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale.There are 50,000 reported earthquakes in the world every year.They vary in seismic intensity. No area of the earth is entirely free from the threat, although some areas are more active than others.

Japan has had more than 60 major quakes, with the first recorded in 684.The 2011 Tohoku quake registered a 9.0 magnitude and claimed nearly 16,000 lives. 

The world's biggest earthquake is believed to have been the 1960 Valdiva Quake in Chile, which was a 9.5.The quake that hit California in 1906 and ruptured a 70-mile length of the San Andreas fault was an 8. Other big ones have hit in Lisbon in 1755, New Madrid, Missouri in 1811 and Alaska in 1899.

The Lisbon quake -- which killed at least 60,000 people -- was so powerful that the water in Loch Lomond in Scotland oscillated for two minutes.

The center has a permanent exhibition to the 1923 Tokyo earthquake.On September 1, 74,000 people died in seven seconds. Fifty-four percent of the brick buildings and 10% of all reinforced-concrete structures collapsed. 

One percent of the city's houses were destroyed and 700,000 homes were burned down. The shock started a tsunami tidal wave that reached a height of 36 feet at Atami on Sagama Bay, where it destroyed a further 150 houses and killed 60 more people.


This article is directly from cnn.com