The first time an earthquake woke me up, I was out of bed, down 14 flights, and out in the street within a couple of minutes. The stairs were open-air so maybe the building didn't qualify as "high-rise". I don't think I erred, although maybe my neighbors who took a half hour to reach the street did? I guess they were looking for shoes... ISTM "the standard instruction" would be useful in a very narrow set of circumstances. Obviously it would be useless if the building completely collapses killing everyone, whether immediately or after half an hour. It wouldn't be any better than any other procedure if the building remains intact. The only circumstance in which it would save lives would be when the building immediately collapses enough to kill people in stairwells but not in apartments, and safety crews can be counted on to extract people from the wreckage. That seems pretty minor compared to the obvious advantages of immediate evacuation.