Friction piles are used around the world, including in far more seismically active areas like Japan. In fact, in many ways they can be advantageous. I don't think I've read a single article on the Millennium Tower where a professional claimed that the tower engineers did anything but apply proper, modern structural engineering. At best the few criticisms are more like, "but I wouldn't have done it."

When unexpected things happen it doesn't always mean anything was done wrong, or even that anything should be done differently in the future.