Hi Lowell. You are correct about acceleration. One of the things I saw when I was in Japan in 1997 was some pictures of the damage caused by the Kobe quake. I also have in possession 4 documentary tapes explaining some of the reasons for the damage being the way it was.

Most if not all of the houses that came down had heavy tiled roofs for protection from typhoons. When the quake struck it didn’t knock the houses off the foundations, it ripped the foundations from under the houses. The house because of the heavy tiled roofs tried to stay where it was. There were even some who said the house seem to move in the opposite direction of the quake. When the initial acceleration stopped the house just continued to collapse because of the heavy tiled roofs. In many ways it does depend on where you’re at. Take Care…Don