Preparing for an Earthquake Directly Beneath the Tokyo Metropolitan Area Sumida-ku, a densely populated area of wooden houses

September 5, 2012, Tokyo, Japan - A staffer monitors images of surveillance video cameras mounted on the supporting beams 260 meters above the ground of the Tokyo Skytree at its control center in Tokyo's downtown Sumida ward on Wednesday, September 5, 2012. The cameras constantly scan "wooden building concentration areas" considered at high risk of fire. In 1979, the district government led the country with its project to rebuild the areas crammed with wooden buildings to mitigate possible catastrophic fires. With only 40.7 percent of the areas made up of fire-resistant buildings and empty lots, the vast majority of the district, , considered at high risk of fire and building collapse, could be burned to the ground if a catastrophic earthquake were to strike the nation's capital. (Photo by Natsuki Sakai/AFLO) AYF -mis-