Reader-added tags include "Breaking the seal and leaving anxiety", "Quick Kuji", and "By immediate decree" in Chinese (急急如律令), presumably a boilerplate phrase used on ofuda and such. (Anyone with actual knowledge of Chinese should feel free to correct me on the translation.)

Not saying any way is better, but one thing that puzzles me about this wasteful --- the Chinese also rarely built houses to last --- Japanese scheme of knocking down the existing houses every 30-odd years, and building own's own property to last, lo, the next 30 years; why don't they ever run out of land ?

When earthquakes knock down your buildings or start fires that burn down your cities, you develop a cultural habit of rebuilding frequently. And they are running out of land, but only in the megacities. The rural areas can't keep people because there aren't any jobs.

Japan [ and China ] used wood for construction as allegedly safer in earthquakes; as these burnt rapidly they had frequent fires...

On the other hand all the hideous flat-slablike concrete tower blocks built in both places don't seem unduly shattered by earthquakes. Yes China has had a few slides --- due to over-quick construction ? --- but it shows wood was not the way to go.