Interesting ... I can appreciate some of these observations, but I think the conventional wisdom of duck and cover still applies, as does getting into a doorframe at the onset of a quake. It's the best way to protect oneself from indoor debris -- ceiling tiles, picture frames, books. Unfortunately, in a truly monstrous event where the ground motion is strong enough to initiate the collapse of a building or roadway, survival isn't going to be dictated by much more than random fate.
Excuse me... this was written by the people who RESCUE the living people from buildings that have collapesed in an earthquake. It is not just mere "observations" but experience that is telling you that those who "duck and cover" WILL DIE and that those who follow your conventional (BUT WRONG) wisdom of "getting into a doorframe" are going to get badly hurt, if not killed, when a building collapses.
They are telling you what they have found WHEN THEY WENT INTO BUILDINGS THAT HAVE COLLAPSED and it does not support your uninformed opinion that what they are explicitly telling you NOT TO DO is the right thing to do. Your post is the EXACT reason I posted this thread!
They are telling you exactly what to do to improve your chances of not being killed by "random fate" in an earthquake. They are telling you exactly WHERE they found the survivors and where they found the dead. Survivors were huddled beside non-compressable objects where the object took the brunt of the falling material and is now supporting the massive weight above the survivor. The dead were found, "ducked and covered" and CRUSHED, or cut in two in scissored down door frames.
Now, would you rather trust your fate to the advice of expert rescuers who found the dead "duck and cover" victims, the people cut in half by collapsed door frames, and found the living in the "Triangle of Safety" next to large objects? Or are you going to trust your fate to the old wives tales repeated for years by someone sitting in an office who has never entered a collapsed building, rescued a single person, and probably has never even experienced a large earthquake?
"...The American Red Cross has not recommended use of a doorway for earthquake protection for more than a decade. The problem is that many doorways are not built into the structural integrity of a building, and may not offer protection. Also, simply put, doorways are not suitable for more than one person at a time."
They do recommend "Drop, cover, and hold on to something." They also admit that the "triangle of life" is a valid strategy, just not the only one.