A video of the NEESWood Capstone building being shaken at E-Defense in Japan, a research center of Japan's National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention. The test, occuring on June 30, 2009, recreated the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California, but with approximately 1.16 times the intensity. An even larger test took place on July 14, simulating an even stronger earthquake with 1.5 times the intensity of the Northridge earthquake. Because of the novel construction techniques developed by the NEESWood project researchers and their industry counterparts, damage from the June 30 test was minimal and non-structural.
Credit: Naohito Kawai, Building Research Institute