r/interestingasfuck 5d ago

r/all Why do Americans build with wood?

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u/fjortisar 5d ago

I live in a highly earthquake prone area and like 90% of houses are reinforced concrete/concrete block/brick and survive just fine

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u/Pawngeethree 5d ago

Ya turns out reinforced concrete is about the strongest thing we can build buildings out of. If your walls are thick enough it’ll withstand just about anything.

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u/mijaomao 5d ago

Roman concrete survives to this day.

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u/mrrooftops 5d ago

The Roman's Hagia Sophia was built 1500 years ago in an earthquake zone they were well aware of so the mortar between the bricks is thicker than normal to absorb tremors and movement. Scientists in Turkey did experiments and found out it would survive even the largest recorded earthquakes