How does the Empire state building withstand earthquakes?

I dug up some evidence suggesting that, although New York City (NYC) may not be entirely safe from earthquakes, the Empire State Building (ESB) ... earthquake magnitude for which there is a 10% probability to be exceeded inside a 100 year window (return period), which in NYC's case would be a M5. read more

I dug up some evidence suggesting that, although New York City (NYC) may not be entirely safe from earthquakes, the Empire State Building (ESB) probably is: NYC is a low seismic activity zone. The last major earthquake was a M5 (5 Richter) in 1884, in which no building collapsed. read more

Couple that with a location that is very far from any major faults or seismic activity, the Empire State Building is quite safe. read more

The most obvious place to look for a foreshadowing of such a potentially disastrous event is Japan, which was recently hit by an 8.9 earthquake. read more