Especially in older urban areas such as Taipei City, most buildings were put up in the 1970s, when building regulations were less strict. They depend for their structural safety margin not on their columns, but on their brick walls, because as these walls move they generate friction and heat, absorbing and dissipating seismic energy.
尤其在老都會區如台北市，大部份的房子是在建築法規還沒那麼嚴謹的民國六十年代蓋的，它們倚恃的安全屏障不是柱子而是磚牆，因為牆破裂會摩擦生熱，消耗並減低地震能量。