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by vbezhenar 1231 days ago
Why did the buildings collapse? They don't have a build code for seismic-dangerous zones? Or the possibility of this earthquake was never predicted?
2 comments

This one really came as a surprise, and since people often only act when there's a precedent, sadly the building collapsed. They will learn from this, like the Japanese did.
No, they won't, unfortunately. Turkey is in the fault lines and there was a 7.6 earthquake in 1999. A lot has been said but not much have been done.

Just a couple of years ago, there was "amnesty" for buildings. My father in-law was bragging how his building, which did not have any inspection or permits during the construction, has gotten amnesty for a small fee and he could sell flats to others now..

https://twitter.com/nblaser18/status/1622610294471024640

Talks of another amnesty days before this earthquake.

It’s pretty hard to build for a 7.8. That’s ridiculously strong, similar to SF 1908 which pretty much destroyed the entire city..
The location of the earthquake is pretty much on top of a plate fault so earthquakes are to be expected, especially big ones But the problem is not that you can't build for big earthquakes, more that the whole area is a low income one with everything that along
It is possible to build for a 7.8, at least so that the structure doesn't collapse (severe interior damage is inevitable). But many older high-rises in San Francisco were built to weaker standards or on soil subject to liquefaction and would be at serious risk.

https://sf.curbed.com/2018/6/18/17465696/highrises-san-franc...

1906*