As with most disasters, people are now looking for someone to blame, but in this case they are probably at least partly right in pointing the finger at building contractors. It cannot be a coincidence that hardly any historical buildings were damaged, and nearly all of the houses which collapsed were built in the last few decades. Houses went up like mushrooms, with about the same resilience. However, it is not enough to blame a few wicked building contractors. What is responsible for tragedies like this is not the moral depravity of the few, but the complacency of the many.
Someone has to give planning permission for such a building, and someone has to buy it.
It is sad that it has taken something like this to wake people up. As I just said, it sometimes takes a disaster to wake people up, and sometimes this can mean waking up to some extremely unpleasant realities. I've already mentioned how greed and negligence made the results of the earthquake far worse, but even nastier rumours are circulating. I can't say anything definite at the moment, as I would not wish to accuse anyone unjustly, but according to the centre-left daily Radikal , certain figures in authority have been minimising the need for medical supplies and other aid out of some weird kind of national pride. Worse, if we are to believe the reports, a specially-trained earthquake relief team from Armenia was granted visas by the Foreign Ministry, then turned back by certain people in the Health Ministry.