The matter is much simpler than could appear. It's only a simple question. "More than 300 people died, because buildings collapsed. Did someone that was regarded as competent and with an official role say that in l'Aquila there was no danger because of possible earthquakes?"
In Japan an earthquake of that strength would have caused almost no harm, forget about death. Science is non issue here, take the word "science" out of the context: there was only sloppiness and probably bad politics. If houses and buildings were properly built casualties would have been close to 0. Those are not poor scientists, they were and still are, well (tax) paid officials and experts. Probably they were just afraid to loose their jobs if they went on denouncing the real risks. Probably a greater level of moral of responsibility comes from politics, if it is so they should have explained to the court how they were coerced to down play the danger. Seems they did not or were not able to do so, maybe because the court was constituted by a bunch of idiotic magistrates that believe that earthquakes can be predicted! It takes some times even months to see the full written sentence, then anyone should find there the finest legal details about the court ruling. In any case there is nothing to worry, they have the chance to shed some light and have a favorable ruling in the appeal trial. mic p.s. If there is any California official saying that there is no possible danger related to earthquakes, well you should request him resigning and help him to get mental care . 2012/10/29 David Roberson <[email protected]> > If prediction of earthquakes were a solid accurate science then perhaps > they should be punished, but that is clearly not the situation. No one has > been able to reliably make such a prediction with anything that resembles > regularity so these poor guys should not be held in too much disregard. I > think that it would be prudent to ask ones self how many times has a series > of small quakes occurred when a major event did not follow up? Throwing > the dice would likely be as accurate as quake science is currently in this > field. > > Anyone is capable of predicting that a major earthquake is going to > occur in California soon. The pattern has been established if you look at > the behavior of the "ring of fire". Should everyone evacuate the area > because of the danger? Who should we incarcerate when it happens? > > Dave > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Michele Comitini <[email protected]> > To: vortex-l <[email protected]> > Sent: Mon, Oct 29, 2012 4:56 pm > Subject: Re: [Vo]:Mischaracterizations of verdict against seismologists. > > Journalist around the world are comparing those lazy professors to real > scientists persecuted in the past. Galileo is the most named. I just > remind that Galileo used his intelligence to make *correct* predictions > that went against the established "Truth" , that eventually led him to be > sentenced for life. > The ones we are talking about here *denied* that there was an increased > chance of a strong earthquake even if earth tremors in the area were > intensifying their frequency. It seems they did a very poor job in > investigating further and also pointing the inadequate level of safety of > building especially public ones. It is probable that there have been > pressures to play down actual risk by the government of that time. > The full document that explains the sentence has not been released to the > public, but it looks that this particular vicissitude is the exact opposite > of the one of Galileo. > > mic > > > > 2012/10/29 Harry Veeder <[email protected]> > >> Did you read it? >> In the process of asserting themselves as the legitimate authorities >> on local seismological conditions, the seismologists appeared to >> *minimize* the risk of a major earthquake. One seismologist in an >> attempt to quell public alarm said the recent cluster of tremors >> *reduced* the risk of a major earthquake which he knew was unfounded >> claim. >> >> I suspect the government seimsologist were either misinformed about >> their duties or those duties were not clearly formulated by the >> government . Unfortunately these scientists are the guinea-pigs for >> better policy so the sentence should be light. Perhaps the italian >> equivalent of the minister of the environment should take some of the >> blame and resign. >> >> Harry >> >> On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 11:08 AM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > This whole story is an outrage. It is simply dreadful. Are they trying >> to >> > outlaw science and academic freedom, or are they trying to outlaw >> mistakes? >> > >> > - Jed >> > >> >> >
