Prevention and Reduction of Earthquake Disasters in Asia and the Pacific Region

Earthquakes have killed more than one million people during the past 25 years worldwide, and in Asia and the Pacific region, China, Japan, Iran, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey suffered too much due to earthquake disasters. These earthquake-prone countries are situated in regions where plate tectonic activity is still going on to generate earthquakes. Earthquakes are natural hazards, which cannot be stopped but the hazards can be prevented from becoming disasters by taking appropriate preventive measures. These preventive measures include a complete analysis of the earthquake-prone areas for the past disaster events, preparation of risk assessment and hazard maps to delineate areas vulnerable to earthquakes and adopting and implementing appropriate building codes.