Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Re: [Geology2] Geologists who failed to warn town of earthquake acquitted of murder charges



Oops, mismatched my response and the thread to which it belonged.

On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 9:09 AM, Kim Noyes <kimnoyes@gmail.com> wrote:
The answer is simple as to why that is there: remember Pacific Rim? Well just think "Atlantic Rim."

On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 8:17 AM, Lin Kerns linkerns@gmail.com [geology2] <geology2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 

Indeed, Allison. The Italian government is so fraught with control by either the Church, the Mafia, or the Guilds that it's no wonder that the initial conviction occurred. Only outside pressure could be responsible for reason finally triumphing.

Lin

On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 9:57 AM, 'allison.ann@att.net' allison.ann@att.net [geology2] <geology2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 

About time! The Italians should know from their own history that earthquakes are near impossible to predict. Allison

Sent from my Sprint phone.

----- Reply message -----
From: "Lin Kerns linkerns@gmail.com [geology2]" <geology2@yahoogroups.com>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Subject: [Geology2] Geologists who failed to warn town of earthquake acquitted of murder charges
Date: Tue, Nov 11, 2014 5:29 PM

 

Monday, Nov 10, 2014 

Geologists who failed to warn town of earthquake acquitted of murder charges

"[The decision restores] credibility to the entire Italian scientific community"

Joanna Rothkopf

Geologists who failed to warn town of earthquake acquitted of murder chargesDamage from the 2009 L'Aquila quake(Credit: Wikimedia)

On Monday, an Italian court acquitted six geologists of murder for failing to warn the town of L'Aquila of an impending earthquake that killed 309 people. The decision overturned their 2012 conviction, which sentenced each geologist to six years in jail and to pay over $10 million in damages.

Those in the courtroom responded to the verdict with "cries of 'shame,'" reports ABC News. "We're satisfied with the decision," said defense lawyer Franco Coppi. "We are sorry for the families of the victims."

Motherboard's Jason Koebler reports:

On March 31, 2009, six days before the earthquake, the scientists had downplayed the likelihood of a major quake despite increased seismic activity in the area. The judge in the original case said that the scientists had made "an assessment of the risks that was incomplete, inept, unsuitable, and criminally mistaken."

The conviction was seen as a gross injustice: Earthquake predicting is notoriously difficult, and groups like the United States Geological Survey are constantly looking for ways to give communities even several seconds-advanced warning of seismic activity.

Indeed, the prominent scientific journal Nature published an editorial after the geologists were initially convicted: "The verdict is perverse and the sentence ludicrous … for now all efforts should be channelled into protest, both at the severity of the sentence and at scientists being criminalized for the way their opinions were communicated."

Stefano Gresta, the head of Italy's geologic institute, praised Monday's decision, saying that it restored "credibility to the entire Italian scientific community."

http://www.salon.com/2014/11/10/geologists_who_failed_to_warn_town_of_earthquake_acquitted_of_murder_charges/
--




--




--



--


__._,_.___
Posted by: Kim Noyes <kimnoyes@gmail.com>



__,_._,___
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)