Italian scientists get 6 years for L'Aquila earthquake statements

Six Italian scientists and a government official have been sentenced to six years in prison over statements they made prior to a 2009 earthquake that killed 309 in the town of L'Aquila.

A year-long trial came to a close today (Oct. 22) with the verdict, which alarmed earth scientists worldwide.

"I hope the Italians realize how backwards they are in this L'Aquila trial and its verdict," Erik Klemetti, an assistant professor of geosciences at Denison University in Ohio, wrote on Twitter, adding that the verdict was a "terrible precedent."

According to prosecutors, the scientists and official downplayed the risks of a large quake in L'Aquila, Italy, after a series of tremors shook the city in early 2009. On April 6, 2009, a magnitude-6.3 quake hit, killing 309 people. L'Aquila's medieval architecture led to numerous building collapses during the quake. [See Photos of L'Aquila Earthquake Destruction]

It took Judge Marco Billi just more than four hours to reach a verdict, according to the BBC. The scientists were found guilty of multiple manslaughter.

At the controversial March 31 meeting in L'Aquila, earth scientist Enzo Boschi, a defendant in the case, acknowledged the uncertainty, calling a large earthquake "unlikely," but saying that the possibility could not be excluded. In a post-meeting press conference, however, Department of Civil Protection official Bernardo De Bernardinis, also a defendant, told citizens there was "no danger."

At the beginning of the trial in September 2011, U.S. earthquake scientists conveyed alarm at the idea of subjecting earthquake risk assessment to the criminal justice system.

"Our ability to predict earthquake hazards is, frankly, lousy," Seth Stein, a professor of Earth sciences at Northwestern University in Illinois, told LiveScience then. "Criminalizing something would only make sense if we really knew how to do this and someone did it wrong."

Knowing whether small quakes are foreshocks for a larger temblor is impossible, according to seismologists. A 1988 study of other quake-prone Italian regions found, for example, that about half of large quakes were preceded by weaker foreshocks. But only 2 percent of small quake swarms heralded a larger rupture. 

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[Andreas_Moser]

To understand this case, you have to understand the basic principles of Italian criminal law: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/italian-criminal-law/

[TheCollapsedWavefunction]

What really worries me about this story is that it's not an isolated incident. Italian courts have also recently decided that the MMR vaccine causes autism, despite all science pointing in the opposite direction.

http://www.thecollapsedwavefunction.com/2012/10/six-scientists-convicted-of-manslaughter.html

[Scimajor]

What's next? 10 years to life because a weatherman failed to predict a lightning storm that resulted in the death of someone being struck by lightning?

Don't let this verdict stand Italy. It makes your legal system look medieval at best.

[mcloide]

How about a witch hunt? This is the same as a scientist saying that the Earth is round and getting convicted because at the time the Earth was flat

[ClaudioAQ]

I live in L'Aquila and the article is totally wrong . THey have not been condemned for not guessing the quake was going to happen!!! They have been condemned because they continuosly appeared on TV saying "everything is normal and under control! Sleep in your houses! This is a normal sismic swarm and it is better that the energy is being released gradually"... They said it together with politicians and those vulgar thieves of the "Protezione Civile"... They even said that those who said that we were in danger (because ALL THE QUAKES that previously destroied our city started with foreshocks 4-5 months earlier before christmas and killed thousands on easter exactly like in 2009) were criminally creting panic and should shut up 'cause they were not scientists.They even filed a lawsuite against one scientist who said we really were in danger and was not in their assassin committee! They said he was a criminal because he was going to make the town lose days of school and work!!! The night our lives were f****d for ever there happened a 5.2 quake at 11:30. Some people went out of their houses. And the autorities kept saying: "everything is under control, go back to your homes"... 4 hours later I woke up with the wall of my house tering apart and my sister crying loud she didn't want to die... 6 years is nothing: they killed 5 friends of mine, 10 parents of friends of mine and 30 people I knew personally. A journalist of my town lost his wife and 3 children after he himself told them that night after the 5.2 shock: "i talked to the authorities, they said ther is no danger, we must trust them go back to sleep".

[Duglarri]

Thank you for your intervention. You make the situation vastly more clear.

[Scimajor]

I feel for you but jailing someone for six years for being incorrect IS criminal.

[DJC88]

Obviously, no one should be convicted for failing to predict an earthquake, but it appeared that these scientists went beyond that. They actively declared that there was no risk, and downplayed the concerns raised by others. Once you cross over from the role of scientist to making prescriptions for public policy, you lose your academic immunity.

[zbeast]

That had to be one of the most insane thing I've ever heard.
6 years for not guessing a quake was going to happen.
We can't predict earthquakes at best it's a guess.


This sounds like something you would hear from the dark ages.
The doctor was not able to cure someone so he's put to death...

[ClaudioAQ]

I live in L'Aquila and you are so wrong and the article is too. THey hav not been condemned for not guessing the quake was going to happen!!! They have been condemned because they continuosly appeared on TV saying "everything is normal and under control! Sleep in your houses! This is a normal sismic swarm and it is better that the energy is being released gradually"... They said it together with politicians and those vulgar thieves of the "Protezione Civile"... They even said that those who said that we were in danger (because ALL THE QUAKES that previously destroied our city started with foreshocks 4-5 months earlier before christmas and killed thousands on easter exactly like in 2009) were criminally creting panic and should shut up 'cause they were not scientists.They even filed a lawsuite against one scientist who said we really were in danger and was not in their assassin committee! They said he was a criminal because he was going to make the town lose days of school and work!!! The night our lives were f****d for ever there happened a 5.2 quake at 11:30. Some people went out of their houses. And the autorities kept saying: "everything is under control, go back to your homes"... 4 hours later I woke up with the wall of my house tering apart and my sister crying loud she didn't want to die... 6 years is nothing: they killed 5 friends of mine, 10 parents of friends of mine and 30 people I knew personally. A journalist of my town lost his wife and 3 children after he himself told them that night after the 5.2 shock: "i talked to the authorities, they said ther is no danger, we must trust them go back to sleep".
try to inform yourself by independent and first-hand sources before saying BS...

[Al-in-Italy]

We live about 30km from L'Aquila and we were here during the 2009 earthquake. This verdict is a sick joke and yet another demonstration of how much is wrong in the Italian State. Basically, it's easier for those in power and those who have lost loved ones to make scapegoats of these scientists than it is to acknowledge that far too many people were allowed to live in poorly-constructed houses in a well-known seismic zone.