[Lamplighter]

The story behind that headline is appalling.... a government official doing a CYOA.

Time World
Stephan Faris
Oct. 24, 2012

ITALY: The Aquila Earthquake Verdict: Where the Guilt May Really Lie

When a judge in Italy ruled Monday that seven experts were guilty of manslaughter
for having failed to adequately warn citizens in the city of Aquila of a major earthquake,
the verdict was met in the courtroom by stunned silence.

Internationally, it was greeted with outrage.
Scientists claimed that science itself was on trial.
Columnists compared the conviction, in which each man was
sentenced to six years in prison, to the persecution of Galileo.

In Italy, on Tuesday, the head of the country’s disaster management agency resigned in protest.
But whatever one thinks of the judgment–and there are more reasons than not
to be concerned–the greatest danger may lie elsewhere: that anger over the verdict
will distract from the very real lessons the case has to offer.

At issue is a meeting of the seven defendants, then members of a board called the
National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks, in Aquila on March 31, 2009.
Small tremors had been rocking the area for months, light shocks
that rattled buildings and sent frightened citizens into the streets.
To make matters worse, a local resident who wasn’t a scientist was using
an unproved method of earthquake prediction, analyzing concentrations of radon gas
to forecast the time and place of tremors.
His findings–which proved unfounded–were being picked up by the local media, adding to the sense of panic.

It was into this environment that the Italian government called the seven defendants,
top men in their field, to a rare meeting outside of Rome.
It was to all appearances more of a publicity move than a real scientific evaluation.
Later, the Italian Daily La Repubblica would publish a wiretap transcript
in which top government official can be heard describing the meeting as a “media operation.”
We want “to calm down the public,” he says, speaking the day before the gathering.
“And instead of you and me…we’ll have the top scientists in the field of seismology talking.”

After the meeting, the government official on the commission gave a statement to the media.

Six days later, the city was struck by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake.
The shaking was felt in Rome, a two-hour drive away.
Aquila’s historic city center–one of Italy’s largest–was devastated.
More than 300 people were killed. Another 1,600 were injured.
Thousands were left homeless.

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