catches fire because i understand the buildings which caught fire were slightly older and did not adhere to the current building control codes? japan is a very densely populated country. buildings are very close together. if there is a fire in one building it can easily spread to the next. there s been a history of fires related to japanese earthquakes because of the japanese wish to cope with natural gas. and unfortunately if you use natural gas at the time of the earthquake, you can rupture a point, there is already flame, you get a fire. and because of the density of the buildings, there have been many cases, the great cantle earthquake for example in 1920, false locations