mr. richter is selling it. we are going to put a plug in for cold hardware. they are not available. it's a rather complex. >> in fact we don't even use the richter scale anymore. we use a moment magnitude. the richter scale was early technology. >> probably a myth that i hear most often is my building is just fine in the loma prieta earthquake so everything is fine. is that true ? >> loma prieta was different. the ground acceleration here was quite moderate and the duration was moderate. so anyone that believes they survived a big earthquake and their building has been tested is sadly mistaken. >> we are planning for the bigger earthquake closer to san francisco and a fault totally independent. >> much stronger than the loma prieta earthquake. >> so people who were here in '89 they should say 3 times as strong and twice as long and that will give them more of an occasion of the earthquake we would have. 10 percent isn't really the threshold of damage. when you triple it you cross that line. it's much more damage in earthquake. >> i want to thank you, harvey, thanks pat fo congratulat

it's not just developing countries. 2011 in new zealand, a 6.3 on the richter scale earthquake killed over 150 people. as i said, mr. president, we were fortunate. no deaths. so what's part of the reason for that? well, given how many earthquakes we have had over the years, we have learned a lot, and the first thing is building codes. quorum call, again, thank god we had no buildings collapse. we had a lot of structures, homes, businesses, schools, that have severe structural damage, but a collapsing building is where you get a lot of deaths. and with strong, strict building codes, particularly after the 1964 earthquake, that helps prevent that. mr. president, it's also -- it's also people who are resilient and tough and trained. and i want to talk a little bit about this because i have no doubt that this is why we had no fatalities. the group that i really want to do a shoutout to, and i'm just so proud of them, are the students, the students and the teachers who in the middle of the -- in the beginning of the morning -- and i went through some of these schools just the last few days. houston middle school, the el