The Southern Georgia Volcanic Highland is a young and unstable geologic region with high seismic activity and has experienced some of the most significant earthquakes that have been recorded in Georgia.

Before the disaster, Japan issued about 1.5 billion in earthquake related catastrophe bonds as a risk management device the debt is canceled if a precisely defined seismic event occurs.

Given the fact that Addis Ababa is settled on a seismic fault, during the course of the design exercise, the structural engineers contracted for the project required further soil testing in specific areas of the site to confirm the topographical data already documented.