Notwithstanding the astonishingly incorrect answers to this question, as a person who lived

Notwithstanding the astonishingly incorrect answers to this question, as a person who lived for years in the earthquake area I can suggest the following causes in descending order.

Magnitudes were high. Imagine Big One in San Andreas fault. Then imagine another Big One within hours with a close by epicenter. These were by far the largest earthquakes for a century in Turkey and the Middle East, which are earthquake zones.

Three different seismic plates merging at the devastation area means hundreds of smaller quakes, which shook the area before, in between and after the two peak ones. Previously many seismologists did not expect a fault line just 100km long produce such an earthquake of ‘500 nuclear weapons’ at 7.7 and 7.6 consequetively.

Buildings are by law supposed to be constructed to withstand 8.0 magnitude earthquakes on Richter scale but nobody expected a double 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes in the region with a short fault line. Although in Turkey civil engineering both science and practice is relatively advanced by global standards, many building constructors, even those who move in what they built, didn’t go to full extent in materials demanded by designers. Those who did, as in the case of government high rise TOKI housing estates everywhere in the region, were not affected at all by the catastrophy.

Although strict government regulations and inspections on paper must be there, local constructors can always find ways of fooling authorities. That becomes easier in smaller cities where there are collusion between constructors and municipal authorities.

Older buildings set up before the devastating 1999 Marmara earthquake of 7.2 magnitude and following regulation were not later taken down as strictly. For example, one of the few government buildings which crumbled, State Hospital Iskenderun, a brutalist giant, was reported as a hazard recently and demolishing was decided but it was not acted upon immediately for a new hospital had to be constructed first.

Because of the two massive earthquakes hitting ten provinces with over 12 million population and with 30 cities and large towns, previously efficient Turkish response was in the critical hours underwhelming. State emergency systems were paralysed to attend 30 different centres hit at once.

Taking people out of debris require large number of people, experts and heavy machinery. With 40 thousand crushed or severely damaged buildings the initial response could not be effective even though search and rescue, government, security, military, charity organisations and volunteers, national and international, immediately headed to those zones.

There was a sudden cold weather wave on the day that dropped temperatures subzero with heavy precipitation in a region of normally milder, warmer climate. Many people who normally stay outside after earlier warning quakes couldn’t, and had to return back to flats. People I later called who rushed out hastily, sometimes without shoes, could not stay out long even after the first Big One. As a result many had to decide between crushing and freezing.

Those who were trapped under collapsed buildings died due to cold and diluted concentration of otherwise large number of rescue efforts despite the support of international rescue teams.

Finally, thanks Quoran Burak Yediyıldız for reminding, destruction of roads, railroads, ports and airports closest to epicenter caused severe delays in aid, search and rescue and work machines. Some highways were torn like paper.

Unlike uninformed hasty answers to the question the devastation has nothing to do with the Turkish economy, lack of technology, lack of materials, underfunded rescue services, five million Syrian refugees in Turkey, government refusing to respond, an imaginary Kurdish majority in the area, HAARP, earthquake weapons, and other fictional explanations.

Two Big Ones, dozens of cities hit, compliance failures and freezing weather, put together the biggest devastation excluding wars in Turkey’s and the zone’s 12 thousand year post-Göbekli Tepe (shaken but not affected) post-agriculture history.

Probably deaths on the order of 100,000, wounded around that and homeless or severely affected 20 times that.

Still we shall survive this calamity by the grace of God.

International response was beautiful. Countries we had most political differences, including Greece, Armenia, India, Israel and others sent search and rescue teams. USA and others sent ships for hospital services. We are grateful. These are times when humanity come together.