Scientists Convicted of Manslaughter for Failing to Predict Italian Quake

[mbailey]

Remind me if i move to Italy to not get into Geology/Seismology as a trade

http://abcnews.go.com/International/scientists-convicted-manslaughter-failing-predict-italian-quake/story?id=17536977

[Devil 505]

Proof why organized government doesnt work in Italy. Viva La Cosa Nostra! 

[pembquist]

Before ya'all go rushing to judgement the reason that there is a case at all is that people were sleeping outside because of tremors and officials repeatedly told them that there was nothing to worry about and to return indoors.  So I would say it is less a case of "scientists" being indicted for failing to forecast an earthquake than "scientists" being indicted for forecasting the absence of an earthquake. Of course as you might expect the people who moved back inside against their own instincts had the pleasure of being buried in rubble.  Case is on appeal which means it has to be retried and nothing will come of it anyway.  Makes a nice headline though.

[guncrasher]

that is kind of silly.  here in los angeles we have hundreds of earthquakes a day.  every few weeks we get one that you can feel.  we just go back to sleep if you wake up at all.  heck even after the biggest earthquakes like the sylmar or the northridge, we still went to sleep inside.

I remember the Whittier narrows earthquake it happened early in the morning and we were sent home after 2 aftershocks just as strong were felt.  3 days later we had an after shock just as strong.  some people went to sleep in parks that were nearby but just about everybody else just went back inside.

when my youngest son was born and we had an earthquake around 92 that lasted for about 45 seconds.  I remember it was in the middle of the night and we woke up and my wife picked up my son while i picked up my daughter then we went to the back yard.  after about 20 or 25 seconds and the earthquake wouldnt stop I just looked at my wife and told her "let's go back inside"  we were back in bed when it stopped.  about 4 or 5 minutes later we were already asleep.


semp

[Shuffler]

The good thing is now they judges in italy will be held responsible for criminals they let out or off if they kill anyone or commit a crime.

They should have known... right?    

What a stupid justice system...... of course ours is about as messed up.  Man kills 8 people and on death row. After years on death row it is stopped because he has some mental condition. Oh wow ok... no problem. Just tell those dead folks they are not really dead because the so called killer is not mentally healthy.

Now this guy knows he can kill without condition.

[pembquist]

I seem to remember ten or fifteen years ago that there was an earth quake that killed 15 to 20 thousand in turkey.  The nice thing about California is that since it has a long history of quakes the building codes make for much safer structures.  I would imagine the problem with earth quakes in a lot of the world is that the construction is often unreinforced masonry and of course corruption in building code enforcement.  Chile had a very powerfull quake a few years back and the low casualty count was down to modern codes.  Up here in Oregon we have a sh...t storm coming sometime in the future because so much stuff was built before anybody knew we get massive 9 minute subduction zone quakes every 300 years.  Portland is going to be a totall mess none of the bridges are expected to survive.

[Pigslilspaz]

I seem to remember ten or fifteen years ago that there was an earth quake that killed 15 to 20 thousand in turkey.  The nice thing about California is that since it has a long history of quakes the building codes make for much safer structures.  I would imagine the problem with earth quakes in a lot of the world is that the construction is often unreinforced masonry and of course corruption in building code enforcement.  Chile had a very powerfull quake a few years back and the low casualty count was down to modern codes.  Up here in Oregon we have a sh...t storm coming sometime in the future because so much stuff was built before anybody knew we get massive 9 minute subduction zone quakes every 300 years.  Portland is going to be a totall mess none of the bridges are expected to survive.

That was the main reason why there were so many deaths in Haiti. One of the poorest countries in the world, almost everything is built from cinderblock, which is one of the WORST materials to resist any seismic activity.

[Maverick]

That simply is an absurd judgment. It should never have gone to trial.