Well, Japan is only some island created by volcanic activity.
The danger of earthquakes, even big ones, and tsunamis accompanying it are known. Just like Los Angeles with the waiting for the big devastating earthquake.
I think, in this aspect, modern humans build their towns and live way too much naive and kept in the mindset "oh, this won't happen to me as long as I live". Everything's constituted to work as long as nothing happens and the big cheese cover continues to exist every day until forever and ever. The possibility of anything getting in between and fucking that up gets totally pushed aside and far, far away from human thinking.