Chile’s quake experts create buildings that sway and bounce

This building in Santiago sports an ‘antiseismic sink’ in its walls. Photos: AFP

Some people run into the street during an earthquake, but Rene Lagos would rather be indoors – preferably on the top floor of a skyscraper.

The Chilean engineer crunched the numbers for some of the tallest buildings in Santiago, and he loves to feel them move when earthquakes strike – as they do regularly in Chile, one of the world’s most seismically active countries.