This one in Turkey would have produced much greater loss of life even without the added energy. Most residential buildings at the time in So Cal were light wood framing, which performed well, all things considered.
The use of unreinforced masonry, and under-reinforced concrete in Turkey and Syria is going to produce horrible numbers of casualties.
“The use of unreinforced masonry, and under-reinforced concrete in Turkey and Syria is going to produce horrible numbers of casualties.”
I was wondering if they had a lot of buildings made out of that kind of material. Very likely because some of their cities go back to antiquity. In SoCal “ancient buildings” go back maybe 100 years.
I’ve seen pictures of collapsed buildings where plenty of rebar was visible. Having been in a bunch of quakes, including a 6.7 and 7.0, 7.8 is insane, and will bounce you around like a ping-pong ball now matter what you try to do. The stress on structures is astronomically high, and it is not surprising to see even well-constructed buildings fail in that kind of energy release.