ELI5 Earthquakes - how do they design buildings to withstand them?

If an earthquake is the moving of a giant plate, why is the epicenter a single point and not the entire fault line? How do they make buildings earthquake proof? When did an earthquake shift an entire island?   ... We explain like i'm five!   Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community as always and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: tridax00, pychomp, abtino11, raidere, tattedspyder, moodoperator, mesaisthesenate, uyscutipuffjr, mintaka3579 & spcialkfpc To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Send us an e-mail: [email protected]