It appears that we need to add anti-earthquake engineering to all the other benefits the Romans gave us: sanitation, medicine, education, public order, irrigation- and let’s not forget….wine! Recent studies have shown that it is no accident that buildings such as the Colosseum have survived nearly two millennia, even though they were built in areas prone to earthquakes.
So what was so special about what they did? By building in concentric circles that get close to the centre (think amphitheatre) the Romans created a series of channels that could reduce the skaking caused by earthquakes. This method is now being copied by today’s engineers are building concentric invisible barriers underground causing multiple reflections to reroute the energy from the earthquake.
