5. EARTHQUAKE VULNERABILITY OF PEOPLE’S HOUSES
The 2011 earthquake demonstrated two types of earthquake problems in people’s houses. Photo 8 indicates failure of residential fill that led to the total demolition of an overlying house. Because this residential area was constructed in a hilly area by cutting high places and filling valleys, there occurred a significant difference in seismic performance among places and only the filled parts experienced fatal damages during the earthquake. The problem from the people’s viewpoint is that customers are not aware of the seismic risk of land that they are going to purchase and are shocked to see the consequence after a big earthquake. It is unfortunate that efforts of seismic experts to disseminate knowledge have not been efficient to date