Miles Copeland, III

The official website

Antakya? Never heard of it before the recent earthquake that devastated SW turkey and NW Syria. Oh you mean Antioch? Heard of that. Dates back over 2000 years. The Greeks, Romans, the Crusades – very well documented. Why do we who speak English call Antioch by its new Turkish name Antakya? We dont do that for all sorts of cites so why Antioch? By the way, Antioch has a long history of huge earthquakes that did severe damage. The one in 119 AD devastated the city so its nothing new. The people of the region are right to level anger at builders who used cheap materials and did not follow construction laws that were put in place precisely due to earthquakes. The ire should also be directed at the government that allowed builders to skirt the rules to save money. The likelihood will be that even more construction rules will be made into law – BUT as time passes they will also be skirted or set aside from pressure to make more money. People forget and dont think long term. The reality is that the cost of reconstruction will far out weigh whatever was saved by using cheaper materials and skirting the laws.


%d bloggers like this: