Naoshi Hirata, an emeritus professor of seismology at the University of Tokyo, helped write the report with the Tokyo metropolitan government's panel of experts on disaster prevention. He says Tokyo's residents are familiar with earthquakes, but many do not truly comprehend what a big earthquake would be like. [...] The latest report noted that the number of families living in super high-rise apartments had boomed by 33 per cent since the last report, released 10 years prior. However, these buildings were specifically designed to withstand large earthquakes and prevent the spread of fires, leading to a sharp reduction of the death toll and property destruction by 30 to 40 per cent. The main concern is the many older buildings that were built before strict earthquake regulations came into place in 1981. Narrow laneways and densely packed wooden structures susceptible to collapse and fire are dotted around Tokyo. "Those houses are weak. So that's very much a serious problem," Professor Hirata says.