Quake Kills 20,000 (!) in Iran

[kellychaos]

Originally Posted by KevinTheHerbivore

The quake, a regular occurrence in a country crossed by major faultlines, struck when most residents were asleep.

I believe that their goverment, at least partly, is at fault here in it's failure to enforce strict building standards which would enable some of the buildings to withstand earthquake conditions. Granted, this one was pretty high on the Richter Scale but California has withstood the same type of conditions with nowhere near that fatality level.