As Joe Offer says, nothing is better in an earthquake than a frame house. A few tiles may slide off, it may fall off it's footings, it may even float down a river, but the people inside will be alive. They are more likely to be killed by their own furniture than bits of building. I live in a country which suffers earthquakes. Our building codes are formulated for frames, and it tends to cost more if you build otherwise.

It is possible, of course, to build a frame house with steel frames as they do in Australia, but they do it there to stop termites eating the wood framing, I believe. It isn't girders, just pressed steel and sheetmetal screws.

Here the tarmacadam milled off the roads is used as base-course for house drives. If you can get it.

I suspect that there are no definitive answers to the question, and that every comment on this thread is correct. For a local value of correct.