The seismological community is anxious with the ongoing court proceedings against fellow Italian seismologist with regards to the 6th April 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. The news of seismologists guilty of manslaughter was major news for the entire world (e.g., BBC) and condemnation came in fast (e.g., The Guardian, EOS, AGU). Internal discussions between scientists are still very active during major international conferences (e.g., EGU 2014) with many arguing that better outreach and education programs are needed to help the general public understand better seismic risk: “Earthquake experts must communicate public risk more effectively to avoid a repetition of the Italian media fiasco that a year ago culminated in jail terms for the academics involved” – http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk. A paper was also published in Natural Hazards: Communicating earthquake risk to the public: the trial of the “L’Aquila Seven”.
A dedicated blog has been set up to present the material and opinions concerning the trial of the seven scientists and officials who were indicted for manslaughter after taking part in the so-called “Great Risk Commission” meeting at L’Aquila, 31 March 2009. You can follow the ongoing appeal of the l’Aquila trial on this blog: http://eagris2014.com, also available in Italian http://terremotiegrandirischi.com.
The sentence of the appeal is expected in the coming days.
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