Science Focus
original post »An appeals court today overturned the 2012 manslaughter convictions of six Italian earthquake scientists in the wake of a 2009 earthquake that killed 309 people in the town of L’Aquila, as reported by ScienceInsider and NatureNews. Each scientist had been sentenced to six years in prison along with a government official. The official has not been acquitted, but he did have his sentenced reduced to two years.
Amidst a swarm of small earthquakes (and false predictions of major earthquakes by a technician at the nearby National Institute of Nuclear Physics) near the town of L'Aquila in early 2009, the Civil Protection Department convened a meeting of the six scientists. Some public statements resulting from that meeting—specifically statements by Civil Protection Department official Benardo De Bernardinis—were seen to have gone too far, assuring the public that risk of a dangerous earthquake was very low. When a magnitude 6.3 earthquake just six days later killed 309, those statements were blamed for some the deaths as some people apparently failed to leave their homes, which then collapsed.
As Ars reported, a judge ruled that these seven individuals were culpable because of their comments and found the group guilty of manslaughter in 2012. The defendants appealed, resulting in today’s decision.
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» see original post http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/science/~3/IdexDPGt8Es/
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