Pancake buildings

Humans behave in paradoxical ways when confronted with geological threats such as earthquakes.

A notable behaviour is that they persist in constructing major population centres in areas well known for serious tectonic instability. They then react to this clear and present danger by attempting to construct accommodation that will survive earthquake forces, instead of the obvious solution of "living somewhere else".

When the inevitable earthquake arrives, huge resources are then expended on attempting to rescue survivors, if any. The population centre is then reconstructed on the same highly vulnerable site.

The logical solution is to fully dismantle the buildings and give the area over to agriculture, with the requirement that any dwellings are lightweight and single story, preferably similar to a mobile home placed on a bed of gravel to decouple earth movements.

However, some occupants resist this policy.

The answer therefore is not better buildings (which are expensive) but worse ones (which are also cheaper). Buildings in tectonic zones should be mandated to be tall, narrow structures, without reinforcement, and lacking any substantive foundations. Walls should be weak, and floors heavy.

When the earthquake hits,the buildings collapse, hopefully killing all the occupants. This will eliminate the humans prone to this behaviour from the gene pool. Schools should particularly be targeted for this treatment, ensuring that the genes for stupidity in the face of imminent natural threat are effectively removed from the population.

As the inhabitants of quake-prone areas are killed off, those from unaffected zones can, once the dust has settled, visit briefly to bulldoze the rubble into a neat pile and affix to the top a large sign reading "DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BUILD HERE - EARTHQUAKE ZONE".