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And ironically in their press release for the re-open they said they re-built it with more disaster-proofing with the knowledge from the previous disaster...

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The emerging thing is that the earthquake caused a gas leak which later caused an explosion. Pipes will just go out of alignment during an earthquake, there isn’t a ton you can do to prevent that wholly.

My question is why upon calling in a gas leak, the mall was not immediately evacuated and cordoned off.

I've always wondered why automatic earthquake shutoff valves weren't a requirement. Apparently they're required in some areas of the US by surprisingly recent code (2013 in Los Angeles is what I'm seeing?) but I've never heard of it in Japan. Maybe this incident will be a regulatory turning point.

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