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Several tremors had been felt in the medieval city of L'Aquila, around 60 miles east of Rome, from mid-January onwards, and vans with loudspeakers had reportedly driven around the city spreading the warning.(telegraph.co.uk) |
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The relatives of more than 300 people killed in the devastating L’Aquila earthquake asked for ￡43 million in compensation from seven experts who are accused of manslaughter in failing to give adequate warning about the disaster. A court in L’Aquila, the mountain city which was devastated by the 6.3 magnitude quake on April 6, 2009, admitted 70 individuals and organisations as injured parties in the trial, including the city’s council. The six prominent seismologists and a senior public official are accused of not issuing sufficient warning over the likelihood of a major tremor at an emergency meeting six days before the earthquake hit. The seven defendants face charges of manslaughter and unintentionally causing injury, which if proven by the court, could result in prison sentences of up to 15 years. The decision to prosecute the experts has caused outrage in the scientific world, with Italian and international colleagues saying it is impossible to accurately predict an earthquake. The Seismological Society of America has described the trial as an unprecedented legal attack on science. Only one of the seven defendants was in court — Bernardo De Bernardinis, the then deputy head of Italy’s Civil Protection agency. “I felt that it was important to be here because this is my home, and also to underline the professionalism and competence of other public officials. I’m from Abruzzo, I owe it to the people of the city,” he said. The prosecution alleges that after the experts held an emergency meeting on March 31, 2009, they gave the public only an “approximate, generic and ineffective assessment of seismic activity risks as well as incomplete, imprecise and contradictory information.” The experts, part of Italy’s Great Risks commission, issued a memo that day in which they concluded that it was “improbable” that there would be a big earthquake. That meant, prosecutors say, that as more tremors hit L’Aquila in the days leading up to the quake, tens of thousands of people had been lulled into a false sense of security and did not evacuate their homes. The earthquake reduced much of L’Aquila’s medieval centre to rubble and flattened surrounding villages, leaving the region, north-east of Rome, looking like a war zone. After a three-hour hearing, the trial was adjourned to Oct 1. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies)
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意大利七位地震專家因未能準(zhǔn)確預(yù)報拉奎拉地區(qū)發(fā)生的強震而面臨過失殺人罪指控。超過300人在地震中遇難。日前，遇難者親屬要求七位專家賠償4300萬英鎊損失。 拉奎拉是一座山城，2009年4月6日發(fā)生里氏6.3級地震。在當(dāng)?shù)匾患曳ㄍヅe行的庭審中，案件受害方多達70名個人和組織，其中還包括地方議會。 六位地震學(xué)家和一位高級官員被控在地震前六天的一次緊急會議上，未能對強震的可能性做出充分預(yù)警。 這七位被告面臨過失殺人罪及過失傷害罪指控，如果法庭認(rèn)定罪名成立，他們將面臨最多15年監(jiān)禁。 起訴地震專家一事引發(fā)科學(xué)界的憤怒，本國和國際同行都表示根本無法準(zhǔn)確預(yù)報地震。 《美國地震學(xué)會通報》稱，這起案件是對科學(xué)空前的法律攻擊。 七位被告中僅有伯納多?德?伯納迪尼斯一人出庭，他當(dāng)時擔(dān)任意大利公民保護局的副主任。 他說：“我覺得出庭很重要，因為這里是我的家，來告訴大家其他官員的專業(yè)素質(zhì)和能力也很重要。我來自阿布魯佐（譯者注：拉奎拉是阿布魯佐區(qū)的一個?。?/em>，我深受拉奎拉人民之恩?！?/p>
控方指出，專家們在2009年3月31日舉行緊急會議后，僅對“地震活動的風(fēng)險提出了大概的、一般的、無效的估算，而且傳達了不完整、不準(zhǔn)確、不一致的信息?！?/p>
被訴專家在會議當(dāng)天發(fā)布了一份備忘錄，結(jié)論是“不太可能”發(fā)生強震。他們同屬于意大利高風(fēng)險委員會。 控方稱，拉奎拉地區(qū)在強震前小震日益頻繁，但數(shù)萬人誤以為這里很安全，沒有疏散。 地震將拉奎拉的中世紀(jì)中心震成一片碎石，還夷平了周邊村落，使羅馬東北的拉奎拉地區(qū)看起來更像戰(zhàn)區(qū)。 庭審持續(xù)三小時，并延期至10月1日再審。 相關(guān)閱讀 |
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Vocabulary: manslaughter: the unlawful killing of one human by another without express or implied intent to do injury（過失殺人） injured party：an unfortunate person who suffers from some adverse circumstance（受傷害的一方，受到不公平待遇的一方） seismologist: 地震學(xué)家 lull: to deceive into trustfulness（使平靜，哄騙） adjourn: to suspend until a later stated time（延期再審） |
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