the fact that several high structures are still standing in japan s largest earthquake on record is a testament to how well those buildings were designed. japan has become a world leader in engineering and retrofitting buildings. it kept the death toll from rising even higher. i m joined now by mark in seattle who is a structure engineer and has visited haiti. i know you permanently performed some post earthquake investigations, you ve written recon reports about haiti, also chile last year. how important is a structural integrity of a nation s buildings in terms of minimizing casualties? good morning, alex. yes, the structural engineering is very important in haiti versus chile is an example of that. chile, a country rather haiti, a country without a building code to protect from
earthquakes suffered horrendous damage whereas chile and japan are showing what good structural engineering and earthquake design can do to protect the occupiants from suffering. you know, mark, we re looking right now at pictures from chile last year of roadways that literally turn into vs. they buckle, topple over, completely collapse in upon themselves. is there any way to make a roadway that is immune from earthquake damage? particularly those ones that you stand up on those huge cement pillars? is it possible to make something completely earthquake proof? yes, it s possible to make things suffer very little damage with a reasonable level of confidence. there s nothing that is earthquake proof. but for bridges, the important elements are the foundations, the disability of the soils. we worry about liquifaction of
there you have it. jay leno having to follow the president. that is no easy task. especially the president had some very good writers. he is a funny guy as well. jay leno doing his deal. we re going to talk about that. mark preston is here. let s bring mark in. mark is our political editor. i have to tell you, it is a tough job to follow the president. but he had me cracking up, the president did. i thought he was funnier than jay leno. i m just saying. i think you are right. the twitter followers agree. if you want to look at some of it. let s just take this here. leno is flatlining. whatever. people just go on, oh, jay, not