An Italian court convicted six scientists of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and a member of the Civil Protection Agency for failing to predict the deadly L’Aquila earthquake. Cnn reports that “Prosecutors argued that the scientists gave "inaccurate, incomplete and contradictory information about the dangers" facing L'Aquila at a meeting a week before the magnitude-6.3 quake. The experts determined that it was "unlikely", but not impossible, that a major quake would take place, despite concern among the city's residents over recent seismic activity.” The prosecution argued that the statements made by the experts were "just too reassuring".
Each scientist was convicted for 6 years and was fined 7.2 million euros each.
The Seismological Society of America has released the following statement:
“The seismological community is alarmed by the conviction and sentencing of six Italian scientists and one government official for manslaughter in connection with the tragic L’Aquila earthquake of 6 April 2009. We are concerned that this verdict may only serve to reduce life-saving communication about earthquake hazards in the future in Italy and in many other countries around the world.
The occurrence of this disastrous earthquake illuminates both the high level of uncertainty in the science of short-term earthquake forecasting and the lack of a public policy framework in Italy and many other parts of the world for providing short-term guidance for coping with that uncertainty to the communities, populations, and infrastructure at risk.
Rather than pursuing unprecedented legal action against members of the seismological community, SSA urges public officials and community leaders to work to improve the way earthquake risks are communicated to the public. We also urge continued proactive efforts to support earthquake science and engineering and to establish and implement local and national programs in earthquake preparedness and risk mitigation. The best approaches currently available for mitigating the effects of future earthquakes are education, awareness, and preparedness of public officials and the general public, coupled with sound construction practices and retrofitting of older structures.”
For more information, read for free the paper titled “Seismological and geotechnical aspects of the Mw=6.3 l’Aquila earthquake in central Italy on 6 April 2009” published by Lanzo et al. 2010 in the ISSMGE International Journal of Geoengineering Case Histories and available here: http://www.geocasehistoriesjournal.org/volume/volume1/issue4/IJGCH_1_4_1.html
Sources:
See more detailed CNN coverage here.
See BBC’s coverage here.
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