CompuServe Messages

For what it is worth Radio Japan several years ago carried stories about the controversy in Japan when a French politico on a visit that in France they had rabbit hutches built better than most Japanese houses…. One wonders what the frenchman would think of modern american housing. (Probably die laughing at his first sight of a trailer park). Actually, Japanese housing is pretty well built, but not the way a European would build it. The construction in areas that don't get heavy snowfalls is pretty light so that they can open up as much area as possible in the hot humid Summers. Also, they have a bad habit of putting heavy objects like tiles up high. I suspect that the very high death toll in Kobe is largely due to the very high population density and the difficulty of getting emergancy equipment in over the narrow and infrequent streets. The death toll in California quakes would be far higher if our residential housing weren't largely single family homes set well apart separated by driveways and parking areas and accessed by broad roads that are not blocked by debris.