Scientist Claims He Predicted Italy Quake
An Italian seismologist tried to warn residents of L'Aquila of an impending major earthquake weeks before one devastated the town, but was ignored by authorities and reported to the police for spreading panic, Reuters reports.
A massive earthquake struck L'Aquila early Monday, killing at least 91, injuring 1,500 and leaving thousands homeless.
Weeks before, Goiacchino Giuliani, from the National Institute of Astrophysics, drove around in a van outfitted with a loudspeaker, warning residents to evacuate. His prediction was based on the large amount of radon gas in the area, but he was reported to authorities for "spreading alarm" and was forced to remove his evidence from the Internet, Reuters reports.
In the aftermath of the deadly quake, Giuliani has demanded an apology from officials who dismissed his warnings as scientifically unsound.
"Now there are people who have to apologize to me and who will have what has happened on their conscience," Giuliani told the website of La Repubblica.
But, as the told Italian News agency ANSA.
Guerra said incorrect predictions "can be even more damaging than a real earthquake" because of the panic they can cause.
"To say that there will be an earthquake somewhere means nothing," Guerra said. "Predicting means indicating time, place and magnitude. At present it is impossible to do this."
On March 31, Italy's Civil Protection agency gathered scientists charged with assessing earthquake risks in an effort to reassure L'Aquila residents, Reuters reports
"The tremors being felt by the population are part of a typical sequence ... (which is) absolutely normal in a seismic area like the one around L'Aquila," the agency said in a statement before the meeting.
Surrounded now with questions of the government's dismissals of the warnings, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi seemed defensive, Reuters reports. Berlusconi said officials should concentrate on relief efforts at present and "we can discuss afterwards about the predictability of earthquakes."