Steel structures are considered mostly earthquake resistant but some failures have occurred . A great number of welded steel moment-resisting frame buildings , which looked earthquake-proof , surprisingly experienced brittle behavior and were hazardously damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake . After that , the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) initiated development of repair techniques and new design approaches to minimize damage to steel moment frame buildings in future earthquakes
1994 Northridge earthquake
1994 Northridge earthquake
Earthquake engineering