Giustino Parisse knelt by his children's beds, trying to relax them. They had been jolted awake by a small earthquake near the picturesque Italian town of L'Aquila. He told them that scientists and local officials had appeared on TV, saying there was nothing to worry about. So, on their advice, he soothed his children to sleep.
Later that night, a much more powerful earthquake hit his town. His house collapsed. Both of his children died.
"They gave the impression to the outside world that there was nothing to be afraid of," Parisse, a journalist, told the BBC, sitting on the rubble where his kitchen used to be. "That message had no basis to it."
Parisse and a group of residents sued the scientists and a local government official for failing to warn him. His children would still be alive, he argued, had the scientists done their job properly.
Science cannot predict earthquakes. But today, in a decision that stunned many, Parisse and fellow residents won their case. A court in L'Aquila found the scientists guilty of manslaughter, of providing "superficial and ineffective" assessments and of disclosing "inaccurate, incomplete and contradictory" information about earthquake danger.
The verdict's shockwaves travelled quickly.
"I'm dejected, despairing. I still don't understand what I'm accused of," Enzo Boschi, former president of the National Geophysics and Vulcanology Institute, told reporters today. Boschi faces six years in jail if his appeal is rejected.
http://abcnews.go.com/International...-italian-quake/story?id=17536977#.UIXGiIb-vTo
Later that night, a much more powerful earthquake hit his town. His house collapsed. Both of his children died.
"They gave the impression to the outside world that there was nothing to be afraid of," Parisse, a journalist, told the BBC, sitting on the rubble where his kitchen used to be. "That message had no basis to it."
Parisse and a group of residents sued the scientists and a local government official for failing to warn him. His children would still be alive, he argued, had the scientists done their job properly.
Science cannot predict earthquakes. But today, in a decision that stunned many, Parisse and fellow residents won their case. A court in L'Aquila found the scientists guilty of manslaughter, of providing "superficial and ineffective" assessments and of disclosing "inaccurate, incomplete and contradictory" information about earthquake danger.
The verdict's shockwaves travelled quickly.
"I'm dejected, despairing. I still don't understand what I'm accused of," Enzo Boschi, former president of the National Geophysics and Vulcanology Institute, told reporters today. Boschi faces six years in jail if his appeal is rejected.
http://abcnews.go.com/International...-italian-quake/story?id=17536977#.UIXGiIb-vTo
