Istanbul and earthquakes

Claire Berlinski, a free-lance writer who contributes to many media outlets and who lives in Istanbul, writes here about the threat of earthquakes to metropolitan areas, specifically Istanbul.  When one of these monster quakes happens in a vulnerable city that is unprepared, such as Istanbul, Claire predicts there could be millions of casualties.  As she points out, Istanbul is no more prepared for a monster quake than Port-au-prince, Haitti, and there are 30 to 40 times as many people living there.  It is her contention that the corruption of the political parties, all of whom are in cahoots with the construction industry, is the root cause of the lack of preparation.  This could be ugly.