I'm sorry you got the impression you did and I'm afraid you were misinformed by what you saw. In fact, the caves throughout the Cappadocia cave region are popular summer homes, while others are non-taxed historic generational homes belonging to private owners dating back to the 17th century where families still draw water from centuries-old wells, work as local laborers and live near totally independent lives. Most are maintained privately while others are subsidized and maintained by the ministry of tourism for use by nomadic shepherds (and their families) with claim rights and use as temp shelters - often mistaken by tourists as poor squatters. Other families have been creating coops and converting their joint dwellings into boutique hotels for high-end tourists. As for the earthquakes, the entire region of Goreme, Cappadocia, and Nevsehir are volcanic earthquake zones that residents have lived with for centuries. In truth, the honed out caves once used by early Christians to hide have withstood 2000 years of earthquakes, and are still very much in tacked. I don't know where you heard families are moving out for fear of quakes, but its not true at all. Check some of the on-line real estate prices for these homes near Nevsehir.

I lived in Turkey over 10 years. I broke bread and shared family fellowship on these carved out roof tops where we drank tea and raki, ate meze and played folk music until we all bedded down together under the stars. I've also shared in these misconceptions of what poverty looks like to the western eye and realized I had to amend my view of other cultures. I know that to the western eye you're convinced you saw impoverished villages and people, and you'd be surprised to learn that they see us as the ones who are impoverished and bankrupt in our consumerist dependency on money, cars, refrigeration, supermarkets and 5 Euros for bottled water.