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).
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?
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...