How Japan's Data Centers Survived the Earthquake 37
jfruhlinger writes "A lot of Japan's infrastructure was knocked offline by this year's massive earthquake and tsunami, but its data centers by and large stayed running. How'd they pull it off? Good architecture and good planning, for the most part. But the data centers still face challenges in post-quake Japan, not least a new law mandating reductions in power use."
Post-quake Japan? (Score:5, Insightful)
Japan is a hump in the Earth created by subduction of the Pacific plate under the North American plate (yes, Japan is tectonically a part of North America).
Japan will only be post-quake when the Pacific plate stops digging under it.
They survived this quake because they're being rattled persistently. They survived it the way everyone else survives persistent exposure to dihydrogen monoxide, a known corrosive agent, or high-frequency near-visible photons, a known carcinogen. They are adapted to live in it because it is a continually reoccurring part of their environment.
Tsunamis, however, are a bugbear they are not really prepared for... did any data centers in the wet zone survive?
Re:Please correct me if I'm wrong... (Score:2, Insightful)
Almost 100% of japan's buildings built in the last decades are built to withstand earthquakes.
The fact that the datacenters were secure only means that they weren't built next to the ocean (the tsunami did the real damage in most cases).
This is a normal thing to happen. Interesting, but not news.