Some recent discussion about pianos and earthquakes triggered me
to pass on a vignette or two from my own experiences.  We had a
"little" Richter 5.9 earthquake here in Morgan Hill, California,
in 1984.  Not as big as the 1989 Loma Prieta Quake (7.1) which was
centered 20 miles from here, but since we were sitting right on top
of it, we rocked pretty good.

My 1920 Weber Duo-Art Grand was reposing in the garage on its side,
waiting to be restored, in front of where I usually park my car.  The
quake toppled the Weber.  The car wasn't there, fortunately.  The only
damage to the piano was dents in the corners of the stack box.  The
wife said it made more than a little noise, too.  That piano is built
like the proverbial brick outhouse.

Incidentally, I had a grandfather clock anchored to the wall, with
two eye hooks and wire.  The quake broke the wire (amazingly, the
clock remained upright).  If you're planning on anchoring a piano,
use something strong.  The inertia of an 800 pound instrument is
incredible.  In fact, if anchoring at the top, even a lag screw could
be pulled out of a stud rather easily by a piano.

During the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, a friend of mine in the Santa Cruz
mountains, with a two-story house sitting nearly on top of the quake
center, had his grand piano traverse the entire length of his living
room and end up with part of the piano sticking through the outside
wall of the house.

Ray Fairfield