Earthquake in Turkey exposes gap between seismic knowledge and action

"The final death tolls are likely to place these two successive earthquakes among the worst natural disasters that have been witnessed in the world.

The sobering question ... is whether this enormous loss of lives, homes, and livelihoods could have been avoided. There is no way to prevent an earthquake from occurring, but what can be prevented—or at least curtailed—is the scale of the calamity caused by these inevitable tremors."