In fact the really wealthy and important are unlikely to live adjacent to railway lines, except in the centre of cities. Thus the market for rubber bearings in private housing is limited, as cost is liable to take precedence over comfort. People become used to the micro-seismic event which occurs with the passage of trains, and the slightly lower cost of housing near to the tracks may even be an incentive for certain marginal house purchasers. Whilst railways and their rumbles and shudders can be avoided by those who can afford to do so, those who live in seismically active areas are forced to accept the risk of earthquake damage as a norm. Furthermore, a similar disaster had occurred a century earlier.
Most natural disasters tend to have a greater impact upon the poor.
It is usually the poor who are forced to live in low-lying areas prone to flood. The poor may have to live on unstable slopes and in the path of lava flows, but even the rich are unlikely to be able to escape seismic events. Furthermore, some very rich areas, notably California and Japan, are highly prone to earthquakes. Even in these areas it is possible to protect one's life by ensuring that the buildings in which one works and lives are capable of absorbing seismic shocks. Very tall buildings are not at risk of collapse, and medium-rise buildings can be made very rigid to resist destruction.