Earthquake! Where Should You Take Cover? How to Find the Safest Spots in Your Home

If you care about earthquake preparedness, you're probably already familiar with the three-word rule: Drop, Cover, and Hold On. But have you ever really stopped to ask yourself, which spots in my home are actually the safest places to take cover during an earthquake? Today, we'll walk you through—in plain language—how to quickly identify the strongest walls in your home, so you're ready when the ground starts shaking.

A Quick Tour of Wall Types

The walls in a house generally fall into two categories: reinforced concrete (RC) walls and brick walls. Based on their material properties:

• Reinforced concrete walls are built from concrete and steel rebar working together. During a strong earthquake, the rebar holds everything in place, so these walls may crack but won't collapse. They're commonly used as party walls (the wall on the other side of which lies a public area or a neighboring unit).
• 10 cm brick walls are held together only by mortar between the bricks, which makes them poorly earthquake-resistant. A strong earthquake can cause an entire wall to collapse. This type is typically used as a partition wall(the walls that divide rooms within your home).
• 20 cm brick walls have no rebar reinforcement, but their greater thickness gives them better earthquake resistance than 10 cm brick walls. These are often used as party walls in apartment buildings.

Let's take a look at some photos taken after Taiwan's 921 Earthquake (1999) to see the difference between how reinforced concrete walls and 10 cm brick walls performed under intense seismic stress:

The first photo shows a reinforced concrete party wall. Only the surface concrete chipped off—the structure itself remained intact.

(Photo credit: Associate Professor Hsin-Yu Shan, Department of Civil Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University)

The second photo shows a 10 cm brick indoor partition wall that collapsed completely during the earthquake. Anyone standing nearby could have been seriously injured—or worse.

(Photo credit: Associate Professor Hsin-Yu Shan, Department of Civil Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University)

After seeing these photos, the takeaway should be clear: reinforced concrete walls and 20 cm brick walls in your home are relatively safe and good candidates for shelter spots, while indoor partition walls (10 cm brick walls) have a much higher risk of collapse and should be avoided. But here's the question: how do you actually identify which walls in your home are which?

Finding the Sturdy Walls — Just Ask, "What's on the Other Side?"

The simplest rule of thumb: party walls and exterior walls are usually the sturdy ones. So all you need to ask yourself is, "Is the space on the other side of this wall part of my home?"

Q: Is the space on the other side of this wall part of my home?

• A: The other side is my kitchen, living room, or bedroom → this is an indoor partition wall (10 cm brick wall) → ❌ Poor earthquake resistance, likely to collapse.
• A: The other side is a neighbor's unit or a public stairwell → this is a party wall (RC wall or 20 cm brick wall) → ⭕️ Earthquake-resistant.
• A: The other side is outdoors or a balcony → this is an exterior wall (RC wall or 20 cm brick wall) → ⭕️ Earthquake-resistant.

Here's an example floor plan to illustrate:

(Image source: General Manager Chih-Tsun Li, Earthquake Safety Wardrobe)

1. Walls marked with red lines are brick partition walls. Taking cover next to these during an earthquake puts you at risk of injury or being trapped if the wall comes down.
2. Walls shown as black blocks are the sturdier reinforced concrete columns, exterior walls, and party walls. If you secure the furniture and objects around these walls (with anti-tip devices), you can map out genuinely safe shelter zones.

Now here's a floor plan without any labels. See if you can spot the safe walls yourself:

(The answer is at the end of the article!)

(Image source: General Manager Chih-Tsun Li, Earthquake Safety Wardrobe)

By now, you should know how to quickly identify the sturdy walls in your home. But as mentioned earlier, finding the wall is only half the job—you also need to make sure there are no dangerous hanging objects or unsecured furniture nearby.

In our next article, we'll go into detail on how to spot those problem items, so you can make your home environment even safer!

Answer: In the floor plan, the red walls are brick partition walls, and the gray walls are reinforced concrete exterior walls or party walls. Did you get it right?

Further Reading

[Facebook Group] Earthquake Survival Discussion Forum: "Finding Safe Hiding Spots Inside Your Home"

If you'd like to go deeper into building earthquake resistance and earthquake response, take a look at our products:

[Disaster Education Material: Earthquake Preparedness Playing Cards]