While I was in the civic center the other day, I decided to check on the earthquake readiness of city buildings. While I havne't ehard anthing back on other structures, I did find that the civic center is designed with a "seam" in the building specifically to let it resist the effects of a quake. The seam splits the building in half, allowing the two halves to shift in the event of a quake, rather than pulling against each other.
The is visible evidence of the seam in the building. Look for a row of tiles about a dozen feet north of the bench in the atrium, with cracked filler between them. You'll see the cracked filler running from the east wall to the west. That marks the protective seam.
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