Why Buildings fall down- how structures fail

In this book 'Why Buildings Fall Down' by Matthys Levy and Mario Salvadori I read about the worst earthquakes up to date, something that could influence which cities I choose to study in further depth. 

The San Francisco earthquake of 1906, of magnitude 8.3 on the Richter scale caused a rupture 275 miles long causing major alterations in the landscape- displacements of 9-15 ft. 

Earthquake Missouri 1811 - 8.7 grades- "the ground rose and fell as earth waves". 

The houses here that were made of wood were well suited to survive the earthquake due to their flexible joints and thus sway and also stretch in response to an earthquake. 

Japan is subsequent to many earthquakes every year.

Useful Information: 

• According to this book, ductility is the most important measure of resistance to seismic forces. 
• a building needs to be high in compression and tension to resist the sway motion caused by an earthquake. 
• each whole number on the Richter scale represents approx. a 32 times energy increase; it is a logarithmic scale. 
• Liquefaction- sandy soils in water turn to liquid with movement; this is therefore very dangerous to build houses on in seismic areas. 
• soft soils magnify intensity of shock
• each building has a natural frequency (a natural way of swaying)