SAFE FROM EARTHQUAKES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 78, 2 April 1928, Page 6

SAFE FROM EARTHQUAKES.

The pagodas before the temples in Japan seem to be the only class of buildings that are able to resist the action of the earthquakes occurring in that country. Many of these structures are centuries old, and are as firm and substantial as when first built. Though verv high the construction is such that their equilibrium' is not disturbed, and they withstand shocks that are sufficient to demolish neighbouring buildinos The reason for this stability is to be found "in the peculiar manner in which they have been constructed. The pagoda, which consists of a framework of heavy timbers, rising from a wide base, has suspended from the apex a Ion", heavv beam, two feet or more in thickness. °At the lower end are bolted, on each of the four sides four heavy timbers, and in the case of verv hicrh pagodas even more. The affair acts as a hu-e pendulum, reaching as it does to within six inches or the ground, and at the occurrence of the earth quake it swings in unison with the motion of the earth, always keeping the centre of cravitv at the base of the pagoda. Thus the equilibrium is never disturbed.