Thank you so much for doing this. I'm sure it will be appreciated in Ishikawa. I live in Kobe and it was one of the strongest I've felt in 20+ years living here even this far away. I hate to be negative but I can't fully agree with the extent of your optimism about the earthquake preparedness in Japan. I arrived in Kobe a few years after the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 95. My neighborhood was particularly devastated. Huge swaths of houses collapsed trapping residents, neighbors tried mostly in vain to dig their loved ones out with their bare hands before the gas fires came. Hearing all the horrendous stories over the years and going to memorials I honestly expected much higher levels of earthquake preparedness. The vast majority of people I have talked to don't have an earthquake kit in their house and if they do it is just some water or rations near the entranceway. We have a large memorial plaque in the park/community center near my house that seems like a good place to store some rescue equipment but there is nothing. My daughter's public elementary school does have the head protectors and do drills as you mentioned but every private school I have worked at including large famous universities have basically no earthquake plan to speak of. When I press the staff on what our plan/responsibilities are they get flustered. There may be a folder labeled "earthquake plans" somewhere but it isn't much good if the information isn't shared and practiced by everyone. I'm sure new construction is much better than the post-war boom era but watching it being built it doesn't look that strong. I could write more examples from the 95 earthquake and my present day concerns but simply I'm a bit nervous that things are not nearly as prepared as you make it out to be in this article. I love Japan but it isn't well served by being too trusting of Japanese authorities.