I think 50,000 is an optimistic estimate. There was a lot of unreinforced masonry in many of the collapsed buildings.
This was a horrific event and I have watched quite a bit of coverage (mostly foreign sourced).
In general, it does appear that the newer buildings fared much better than the older ones so building codes likely did make a difference as did the kind of concrete used as you observed.
” There was a lot of unreinforced masonry in many of the collapsed buildings.”
Indeed. It amazes me that while Turkey is a member of NATO and has unprecedented access to modern technology and construction, a majority of their population still lives in 200, 300 or 500 year old mud huts.
This disaster was readily preventable and my heart goes out to the victims, but the responsibility lays squarely on the Turk government and their medieval culture and religion of death. Sorry, but I have a limited number of tears and patience and the third-world has depleted them both to the point of “I don’t give a sh!t” any longer.
Not my circus. Not my monkeys.
God bless them all but not my problem.