I lived through the Loma Prieta earthquake 6.9 and the San Simeon earthquake 6.5. Both times my house was about a dozen miles from the epicenter. We suffered no damage at all, not even things falling off the shelves. At the time of the Loma Prieta earthquake we lived in a forest of 100 foot pine trees. The ground and streets were covered with the tips of the branches of the pine trees.

The moral of the story is, if you are going to live in earthquake country, live in a well constructed wooden house on top of a mountain, or at least solid rock.