A regional court in Italy has found six geophysicists and an ex-government official guilty of multiple manslaughter following the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that rocked the medieval Italian town of L'Aquila in 2009.
An Italian media report states the men have been sentenced to six years prison for providing "inexact, incomplete and contradictory" information about the tremors felt in the lead up to the quake that killed 309 people.
Last night the BBC's Rome correspondent Alan Johnston said "the case has alarmed many in the scientific community, who feel that science itself has been put on trial. Some scientists have warned that the case may set a damaging precedent, deterring experts from sharing their knowledge with the public for fear of being targeted in lawsuits."
However the authorities who pursued the defendants said the case was never about the reliability of scientific prediction, it was about an inadequate characterisation of the dangers facing the city in 2009.
Is it right that these scientist be held accountable for inaccurately diagnosing risk in a situation where prediction plays a pivotal role? Or have these men been made into scapegoats by a damaged community that needs someone to blame?
Images via telegraph.co.uk
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