There are plenty of ideas for cheap earthquake-proofing: one is to fit rubber pads from recycled tyres between concrete blocks as shock-absorbers, says a report in Science magazine.

With a stronger steel casing and backup shock-resistant triggering mechanisms, the Perseus can smash through several metres of reinforced concrete and detonate only after it has gone into a bunker.

Flying in from France, I suffer a little culture shock. Life in Croatia has the same energetic metabolism, but cheaper jeans, smaller cars, more broken concrete, and almost no fat people.