In 2006 , Italian scientists from CNR patented a building system that they called " SOFIE " , a seven-storey wooden building , 24 meters high , built by the " Istituto per la valorizzazione del legno e delle specie arboree " ( Ivalsa ) of San Michele all ' Adige . In 2007 it was tested with the hardest Japanese antiseismic test for civil structures : the simulation of Kobe 's earthquake ( 7.2 Richter scale ) , with the building placed over an enormous oscillating platform belonging to the NIED-Institute , located in Tsukuba science park , near the city of Miki in Japan . This Italian project , employed very thin and flexible panels in glued laminated timber , and according to CNR researchers could brought to the construction of much more safe houses in seismic areas
Kobe 's earthquake
Great Hanshin earthquake
Wood economy