The physical evaluation of seismic destructiveness

The problem of designing structures to withstand destructive earthquakes is not in a very satisfactory condition. On the one hand engineers do not know what characteristics of the ground motion are responsible for destruction, and on the other hand seismologists have no measurements of seismic motion which are sufficiently adequate to serve for design, even if the destructive characteristics were known. Consequently, engineers have been forced to proceed on an empirical basis.