It is of course outrageous that anyone, let alone a judge could or
should expect human prescience.
It is completely valid to expect a horrific earthquake in an
earthquake zone. The fact that they are almost random and rare has
allowed people to live there.
The judges are now expecting a result that taken to its logical
conclusion would reasonably entail the evacuation of Italy. In
California, less than one hundred died in a quake equivalent to
Haiti.
Italian scientists
sentenced to jail in quake trial
by Staff Writers
L'Aquila, Italy (AFP) Oct 22, 2012
Six Italian scientists
and a government official were sentenced to six years in jail on
Monday for multiple manslaughter in a watershed ruling that found
them guilty of underestimating the risks of a killer earthquake in
2009.
They were also ordered
to paymore than nine million euros (almost $12 million) in damages to
survivors in the devastated medieval town of L'Aquila in a case that
has sparked outrage in the international science community.
Seismologists in Italy
and beyond were horrified by the unprecedented sentence and argued
that all science was being put on trial.
Under the Italian
justice system, the seven remain free until they have exhausted two
chances to appeal the verdict.
Prosecutor Fabio
Picuti had asked for jail sentences of four years for each defendant
for failing to alert the population of the walled medieval town to
the risks, days before the 6.3-magnitude quake that killed 309
people.
"I am
crestfallen, desperate. I thought I would be acquitted. I still don't
understand what I'm accused of," said Enzo Boschi, who was the
head of Italy's national geophysics institute (INGV) at the time.
All seven defendants
were members of the Major Risks Committee which met in L'Aquila on
March 31, 2009 -- six days before the quake devastated the region,
tearing down houses and churches and leaving thousands of people
homeless.
Picuti had slammed the
experts for providing "an incomplete, inept, unsuitable and
criminally mistaken" analysis, which reassured locals and led
many to stay indoors when the first tremors hit.
"This is a
historic sentence, above all for the victims," said lawyer Wania
della Vigna, who represents 11 plaintiffs, including the family of an
Israeli student who died when a student residence collapsed on top of
him.
"It also marks a
step forward for the justice system and I hope it will lead to
change, not only in Italy but across the world," she said.
The bright blue
classroom-sized temporary tribunal in L'Aquila -- built on an
industrial estate after the town's historic court was flattened in
the quake -- was packed with lawyers, advisors and international
media for the verdict.
Four of the defendants
were in court, as well as a small group of survivors.
Aldo Scimia, whose
mother was killed, welled up as the verdict was read out.
"We cannot call
this a victory. It's a tragedy, whatever way you look at it, it won't
bring our loved ones back," he said.
"I continue to
call this a massacre at the hand of the state, but at least now we
hope that our children may live safer lives."
-- A historic legal
precedent –
Some commentators had
warned that any convictions would dissuade other experts from sharing
their expertise for fear of legal retribution.
"We are deeply
concerned. It's not just seismology which has been put on trial but
all science," Charlotte Krawczyk, president of the seismology
division at the European Geosciences Union (EGU), told AFP.
"All scientists
are really shocked by this," said Krawczyk. "We are trying
to organise ourselves and come up with a strong statement that could
help so that the scientists do not have to go to jail."
The current INGV head
Stefano Gresta also said the trial had set a legal precedent which
would have serious repercussions across the science world.
"What scientist
will want to express his opinion knowing that he could finish in
prison?" he asked.
Filippo Dinacci,
lawyer for the-then deputy director of the Civil Protection agency
Bernardo De Bernardinis and its seismic risk office chief Mauro
Dolce, said it was "difficult to understand" the verdict --
after criticising the charges last week as something out of "medieval
criminal law".
The government
committee met after a series of small tremors in the preceding weeks
had sown panic among local inhabitants -- particularly after a
resident began making worrying unofficial earthquake predictions.
Italy's top
seismologists were called to evaluate the situation and De
Bernardinis gave press interviews saying the seismic activity in
L'Aquila posed "no danger".
"The ruling in my
opinion is not fair. We will certainly be appealing," said
Alessandra Stefano, lawyer for the head of the European centre of
earthquake engineering Gian Michele Calvi.
Over 5,000 members of
the scientific community sent an open letter to President Giorgio
Napolitano denouncing the trial against colleagues for failing to
predict a quake -- a feat widely acknowledged to be impossible.
"Seismologists
are more or less reconciled to the fact that the chances of
predicting when a large earthquake is going to strike are somewhat
more remote than finding the Holy Grail," said Roger Musson at
the British Geological Survey, calling the verdict "unbelievable".
The other defendants
are Giulio Selvaggi, head of the INGV's national earthquake centre in
Rome; Franco Barberi from Rome's University Three and Claudio Eva
from the University of Genoa.
About 120,000 people
were affected by the quake, which destroyed the city's historic
centre and medieval churches as well as surrounding villages.
L'Aquila resident
Ortense, whose sister was killed in the quake, said: "We didn't
come here to get revenge, these men are all family men. But it does
bring some comfort to know that someone will pay the price for
misleading us."
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