EARTH: Voices: L'Aquila judgement's disturbing details

Alexandria, VA – Much has been written about the court decision passed down earlier this week by an Italian judge, convicting seven members of the Italian Serious Risks Commission to six years in prison. The "L'Aquila Seven" were convicted for inadequate warnings to residents of L'Aquila, Italy, before a magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck the region on April 6, 2009, killing more than 300 people. Though the story has received international attention and ignited tensions throughout the scientific community, little attention has been paid to the exact roles each of the seven played in delivering the final advice to the public. Now, Max Wyss, a seismologist and director of the World Agency of Planetary Monitoring and Earthquake Risk Reduction (WAPMERR) in Geneva, Switzerland, explains in a comment on EARTH Magazine's website that five of the infamous seven may have been convicted for saying nothing — when they were deprived of the chance of saying anything at all. Read the story online now http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/voices-judged-unfairly-laquila-roles-and-responsibilities-should-have-been-considered

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The American Geosciences Institute is a nonprofit federation of 50 geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences play in society's use of resources, resiliency to natural hazards, and interaction with the environment.