On Sun, 28 Apr 2019 11:51:21 -0400, jmcquown wrote:

> On 4/28/2019 4:43 AM, Sqwertz wrote:
>>
>> Having been on the 24th (top) floor of a building in San Jose during
>> a 6.1 earthquake in the 1990's, building technology has been
>> improved since the 5-story (55 feet, IIRC) limit in New York (I
>> think that was a "concrete" limit before steel).
>>
>> The building I was in was swaying at least 20 feet in each
>> direction. You can't so much feel it except a mild motion sickness,
>> but if you're also looking out the window at the city lights at
>> night it's truly barf-worthy. And some people did. You literally
>> have to look away or else you're waiting for the rest of the city to
>> tilt more than 3 degrees, indicating you're dead in 7 seconds or
>> less.
>
> I can only think of the Twin Towers in NYC when I think of high rise
> glass and steel structures that were built to sway.

This one was a VERY heavy building. It was built to sway and also
was built on large concrete rollers. So the whole building would
actually shift up to 10 feet in any direction, then bend after that.
Looks like they're already planning to demolish it after only 30
years.

-sw