The modern era of civilization is marked by immense networks of complicated, interdependent systems and rapidly evolving technologies, including the world of civil infrastructure. Many of these technologies, while born from academia, are implemented and refined in the world of industry. As today’s complex ideas are put into practice, there is an increasing tendency for things to fail under extreme loading such as earthquakes, and an urgent desire to prevent such failures. This talk explores the field of seismic risk mitigation in practice, drawing on projects from structural engineering, including nuclear plant reliability analysis, urban post-earthquake reconnaissance, and insurance investigations related to alleged earthquake damage.