Recent earthquakes throughout the region have shown that critical public (and private) buildings and
infrastructure are vulnerable to major damage and collapses. That includes both older and new structures. A clear example is the West Sumatra (near Padang), Indonesia earthquake of 2007. It had a magnitude of only 6.3 but caused 66 fatalities, 500 casualties, and severe damage or collapse of nearly 15,000 buildings. About 44,000 structures sustained damage; 60% of the buildings had medium to severe damage. As a result, over 135,000 people were displaced. About 300 school buildings collapsed and another 400 had moderate to severe damage. These are very high numbers for such a moderate earthquake in an area with a long history of much larger earthquakes.
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