July 23, 2009—Rattled on a giant "shake table," a seven-story building wobbled but didn't fall down—evidence that mid-rise wood-frame buildings can be built to withstand earthquakes, experts say.

© 2009 National Geographic (AP)

Unedited Transcript

A seven-story condominium was tested on a 'shake table' in Japan, to see how well it could withstand a simulated 7.5 magnitude earthquake.

The result provided strong evidence that mid-rise wood-frame buildings can be built to withstand major quakes.

The test, held near Kobe, Japan, was conducted on the world's largest earthquake shake table E-Defense. The table is housed at the Hyogo Earthquake Engineering Research Center.

This shake table is the only one in the world large enough to accommodate the wood-frame building, which weighs nearly one million pounds.

It was constructed over a period of months and contains 23 one- and two-bedroom living units.

The 40-second test was successfully conducted by Colorado State University and US construction company Simpson Strong-Tie along with other partners.

They aimed to test ways wood-frame buildings can be built to withstand harsh natural conditions, particularly in earthquake-prone areas such as Kobe and Los Angeles.