Civil engineer and earthquake expert Jean-Pierre Bardet says because of Japan’s location, it is built with earthquakes in mind.

“The building will withstand and the bridges will support this kind of shaking. What is really unknown is the effect of the tsunamis on the infrastructure.”

Bardet says that the tsunamis may cause more damage than the actual earthquake.

“Some of the aftershocks are quite large, 7.3 and so on,” said Bardet. “So these aftershocks are likely to create additional waves, tsunamis, and also can create shaking because some of these smaller earthquakes can be closer to the populated areas and therefore can cause additional damage.”

He says that Japan has a well-developed warning system that probably helped reduce the casualties and injuries. Since Japan is located on the Ring of Fire, an area in the Pacific Ocean that accounts for 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes and volcano eruptions, it has had time to prepare.

“Gradually their infrastructure has been more informed with warning systems,” said Bardet. “Gradually they have adopted the evacuation plans, they’ve adopted shelter systems and they’ve educated their populations so they are very educated about earthquakes.”

Bardet thinks that California should use this earthquake as a warning for what it should do if a big earthquake hit.

“You prepare to what you know you can face and as we learn and we face new events, then we have to prepare even better.”