The news out of Turkey and Syria is horrible. As of the time of writing, the death toll from the earthquakes there has reached more than 23,000 and no one thinks it has peaked.
The devastation is overwhelming. It is almost impossible to reconcile the piles of rubble with the apartment buildings, places of worship and historical treasures they once were, even with the graphic photos of before and after provided by those on the ground.
Why are western nations always expected to bail out Muslim states?
Quake Devastation Tied to Turkey’s Failure to Enforce Building Codes
ISTANBUL — Turkey has for years tempted fate by not enforcing modern construction codes while allowing — and in some cases, encouraging — a real estate boom in earthquake-prone areas, experts say.
The lax enforcement, which experts in geology and engineering have long warned about, is gaining renewed scrutiny in the aftermath of this week’s devastating earthquakes, which flattened thousands of buildings and killed more than 22,700 people across Turkey and Syria.
“This is a disaster caused by shoddy construction, not by an earthquake,” said a professor of emergency planning at University College London, David Alexander.
