Earthquake in Turkey Gives Citizens a Chance to Shine

As I spent the majorityy of Sunday reading about the Earthquake in Turkey, it was hard not to think about my own state and how we would react to such a disaster. It is a well known fact that Utah has an extremeley high risk for earthquakes and that the state itself is long overdue for "the big one". As I watched the footage of Turkish citizens and read their stories, I realized something amazing. Despite the fact that they were generally unprepared for the earthquake, and that it is one of the largest in their history, they handled it very well. 

I watched five different videos and read eight stories of the Turkish Earthquake. Not a single one showed any violence, looting, or chaos which is normally associated with natural disasters. In fact it was quite the opposite, most of the images showed groups of well organized citizens, digging through the rubble searching for survivors. 

That being said, it begs the question: how did they do it when countries such as the United States cant? For example, the Us was more prepared for Huricane Katrina than Turkey ever could have been for this earthquake, and while the damage caused by Katrina was worse, the general EMS system in Turkey is worse as well. Add to the story, the fact that after Katrina, looting and violence skyrocketted, and we begin to wonder as citizens what causes that sort of behavior. If an unprepared and less wealthy country can deal with a disaster in such calm, why cant the most wealthy and powerful country in the world do it. I fear that unless the anwer is discovered soon, the number of accidents with problems like Katrina, will continue to rise in the US.