Societal and observational problems in earthquake risk assessments and their delivery to those most at risk

► Earthquake risks in some tectonic settings cannot be assessed. ► Earthquake engineering available to wealthy but not to poor. ► Poverty, ignorance and corruption thwart the best intentions of engineers. ► Civic structures resist earthquakes: dwellings of population rarely do. ► Geodetic strain changes small, but stress changes large in flexural tectonics.