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Comment by phyzix5761 | Hacker News Reader

I was in that earthquake. Was finally able to check in to a hotel now. It was very scary. The room was shaking for at least 5 minutes and the walls were cracking. We all ran outside, down the stairs, and waited across the street until the engineers told us to walk far away. Then the siding started falling from the building (29 floors).

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I felt it as well in Cebu, so I can only imagine what it was like when much closer to it. And there was a 8.0+ one in the northeast last month as well, right?

I'm in Northern Cebu, never felt it. I guess you are in the city.

I thought the general recommendation is to stay inside during an earthquake to avoid the facade falling issue and injury from evacuation?

Or is that only in places with certain building codes?

I've always wondered about that and how human fear may override training and advice.

Seems like you would be fighting the part of your brain telling you it's (solely) /your/ building collapsing and you need to get out

And wondering if the building is up to code, and trusting that in the moment

Training and advice is about the expected disaster, not necessarily the one you are in.

In 9/11, lots of people escaped the south tower using elevators, which is the opposite of what you're told to do. There are people who died because they chose to follow the stair route. But others died because they were trapped in elevators.

In BC, Canada, the recommendation is to take cover under a desk e.g.

My personal take is that if I have a chance to make it quickly out of a building I prefer to be out of it rather than having it collapse on me. It's one of those things where the recommendation probably is the right thing for the general population and all expected earthquakes but I'm optimizing for something else. You have 10-20 seconds realistically. But yes things falling off the walls and off buildings and anything that can fall on you is a risk. In my office or home e.g. I'm typically on the ground floor within seconds of an exit so my mental preparation is to avoid the building falling on me. Maybe it's the wrong calculus but hey...

In the Loma Prieta earthquake most of my coworkers fled the newly constructed office building. Dodged falling ceramic roofing tiles. And then ran across the parking lot to take safety under the power lines.

Hope you are staying safe

Does Philippines have seismic building codes?

Probably not right ?

It's a poor country with a lot of ramshackle housing and "informal settlements" (slums). Seismic codes exist, implementation and enforcement are an entirely different matter.

They have good seismic building codes on the newer condos.

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