Nepal's devastating earthquake was the disaster experts knew was coming. Just a week ago, about 50 earthquake and social scientists from around the world came to Kathmandu, Nepal, to figure out how to get this poor, congested, overdeveloped, shoddily built area to prepare better for the big one, reports the Times on India.
The article quotes Jackson, a lead scientist for Earthquakes Without Frontiers, the conveners the meeting as saying that while the trigger of the disaster is natural - an earthquake - 'the consequences are very much man-made'. He added that except for landslides, which in this case are a serious problem, 'it's buildings that kill people not earthquakes'.