Deutsche Welle, 23 October 2012
The chief
of Italy's disaster committee has quit his post. He left in protest to the sentencing
of seven experts for underestimating potential likelihood of a major earthquake
that ended up killing hundreds.
The head of
Italy's leading disaster body resigned on Tuesday after seven of his
organization's former members were handed jail sentences for failing to warn
Italian citizens of a deadly earthquake in L'Aquila.
"I do
not see the conditions to work in peace," the president of the national
Major Risks Committee, Luciano Maiami, said to ANSA news agency, which added
that other members of the panel were thought likely to join Maiami in
resigning.
"These
are professionals who spoke in good faith and were by no means motivated by
personal interests, they had always said that it is not possible to predict an
earthquake," the former head of the particle physics laboratory Cern also
told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
"It is
impossible to produce serious, professional and disinterested advice under this
mad judicial and media pressure. This sort of thing doesn't happen anywhere
else in the world," he said.
"This
is the end of scientists giving consultations to the state."
The
committee that Maiami has quit offers advice to Italy's civil protection
authority about the risk of various natural catastrophes occurring, from
landslides to chemical disasters.
A
controversial ruling
Maiami's
departure comes the day after an Italian judge sentenced six scientists and a
government official to six years' imprisonment each for underestimating the
risk of an earthquake in L'Aquila in 2009. The earthquake, which had a
magnitude of 6.3, ripped through the central Italian town on April 6, 2009,
killing 309 people and making tens of thousands of people homeless.
Low-level
seismic activity had been occurring in L'Aquila since January in the lead up to
the catastrophe.
The
convicted experts are expected to launch an appeal against their sentencing. In
accordance with Italian law, they will be free until they have used their two
chances to appeal, a process which could take years.
sej/rc (AFP, Reuters, dpa)
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