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TOKYO (AP) - Japanese researchers on Friday tested a huge quake simulator capable of jolting a six-storey building in a project that could help improve earthquake-resistant construction methods.
The E-Defense simulator, with a 3,229-square-foot "shaking table" powered by 24 pistons, can jolt buildings up to 12,000 tons, according to the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, or NIED.
In Friday's experiment, the mammoth device jolted a 52.5-foot, six-story condominium at velocities similar to those in the 7.2-magnitude quake that hit the western city of Kobe in 1995. That quake caused widespread structural damage and killed over 6,400 people.
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