...
It was extremely old architecture and not retrofitted. I think maybe this picture, of them all, shows most clearly that it wasn't that big a quake, and a little scrolling around there shows that most of those buildings were not going to be standing much longer even without the quake.
I guess my point is that humanity knew full well this was coming. I don't know how many of the residents knew it, or let it bother them if they did, but this, obviously, was fully expected.
It could be there was nothing they could do about it but evacuate the towns. Might be a lot easier and cheaper to just plaster over the stone work with the disintegrating, centuries old, mortar to make things look ship shape, but... but... that's doing fuck all for the structural integrity, now innit?
It's heartbreaking to lose all that beauty and character and life and limb. Yes, it is. But evidently not heartbreaking enough that we modify our sacred capitalism to do anything to save any of those things.
always and any time....
