Hundreds killed in Iranian 5.7 Earthquake

The reason so many people were killed, and there was so much devastation is that the houses in that part of Iran are made of mud brick, which crumbles when shocked. If the Iranian government had been serious about improving the conditions of its own citizens, insatead of spending oil revenues subsidizing international terrorism, those people sould have been living in hoses that would not collaps on them in light earthquakes.

In California, a 5.7 earthquake is noticed -- serious damage starts around 6.0, and that is mostly to things knocked off shelves. Strutural damage to weak and old houses begins at about 6.2. We have building codes, however, and not Sharia Law and Ayatollahs.