Earthquakes and marine structures-evaluation and base-isolation concept

The Great Hanshin Disaster (damage caused by the Great Southern Hyogo Earthquake) was a terrible natural and human tragedy, which claimed the lives of over 5,000 victims. The author would like to begin this report with a prayer for the souls of the deceased, and the sincerest offer of sympathy to the relatives and survivors. Natural disasters tend to spring up suddenly when we are least expecting them. The Great Hanshin Earthquake that hit Kobe with a magnitude greater than 7.0 was totally unexpected, and as a result over 9O% of the deaths were due to people being crushed inside falling structures and beneath rubble. In the face of such a disaster, science almost seems helpless. But there are important lessons that can be learned from Great Hanshin Earthquake. Irrational aspects of modern society must be identified and debated. The least we owe to the victims is that the lessons from the earthquake be analyzed and applied. The author has spent the last 30 years to science and technology related to marine structures. Following are some regarding the potential of such structures in reducing the damage from violent earthquakes such as that which caused the Great Hanshin Disaster