This report presents a survey of the performance of wood-frame construction in a number of recent earthquakes. After a review of the dominant factors that affect the seismic behaviour of buildings, the following earthquakes are examined: Alaska, 1964; San Fernando, California 1971; Edgecumbe, New Zealand 1987; Saguenay, Quebec 1988; Loma Prieta, California 1989; Northridge, California 1994; and Kobe, Japan 1995. Wherever possible, the behaviour of buildings is related to the measured peak horizontal ground accelerations.