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Italy disaster head Luciano Maiani quits over L'Aquila Italy disaster head Luciano Maiani quits over L'Aquila
(about 1 hour later)
The head of Italy's disaster body, Luciano Maiani, has stepped down after seven colleagues were sentenced for their roles before the L'Aquila quake.The head of Italy's disaster body, Luciano Maiani, has stepped down after seven colleagues were sentenced for their roles before the L'Aquila quake.
Six scientists and an ex-government official were convicted of multiple manslaughter for giving a falsely reassuring statement.Six scientists and an ex-government official were convicted of multiple manslaughter for giving a falsely reassuring statement.
The 6.3 magnitude quake killed 309 people and left the city in ruins.The 6.3 magnitude quake killed 309 people and left the city in ruins.
Mr Maiani, a physicist, said the Serious Risks Commission could not work "in such difficult conditions".Mr Maiani, a physicist, said the Serious Risks Commission could not work "in such difficult conditions".
Speaking to Italy's Ansa news agency, he spoke of the "impossibility" of working calmly and providing high-quality scientific advice after the court's verdict.Speaking to Italy's Ansa news agency, he spoke of the "impossibility" of working calmly and providing high-quality scientific advice after the court's verdict.
The agency said resignations were also likely from the commission's vice president Mauro Rosi and its emeritus president. "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," he told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
The six-year jail sentences handed down by the court in L'Aquila on Monday shocked the scientific community. "This is the end of scientists giving consultations to the state," warned Mr Maiani, a world-renowned physicist who was director general of the Cern nuclear research centre in Switzerland from 1999-2003.
While the seven men involved are appealing against their convictions, all are facing the prospect of being barred from ever holding public office again. Ansa said resignations were also likely from the commission's vice president Mauro Rosi and its emeritus president.
The group - all members of the National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Serious Risks - were accused of having provided "inaccurate, incomplete and contradictory" information about the danger of the tremors felt ahead of the 6 April 2009 quake. Shocked scientific community
Among those convicted were some of Italy's most prominent and internationally respected seismologists and geological experts, including the former head of Italy's Institute of Geophysics, Enzo Boschi, and the director of the European Centre for Earthquake Engineering, Gian Michele Calvi. The group, all members of the National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Serious Risks, were accused of having provided "inaccurate, incomplete and contradictory" information about the danger of the tremors felt ahead of the 6 April 2009 quake.
Their defence had called for their acquittal, arguing that it was impossible to predict an earthquake. At a meeting a few days before the deadly quake, they had told officials in L'Aquila that, while a major earthquake was not impossible, it was not likely.
Prof Maiani is himself a world-renowned physicist, having been director general of the Cern nuclear research centre in Switzerland from 1999-2003. On the night of the quake, many people are said to have remained in their homes, and died, because of the advice, while others who had decided to remain outside in the street survived.
Earlier, more than 5,000 scientists signed an href="http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2010/media/0630italy_letter.pdf" title="AAAS: Text of letter to Italian president" >open letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in support of the group in the dock. In their closing statements at the trial in L'Aquila on Monday, prosecutors quoted a witness whose father died.
Guido Fioravanti called his mother straight after the first tremor. "I remember the fear in her voice. On other occasions they would have fled but that night, with my father, they repeated to themselves what the risk commission had said. And they stayed."
However, the six-year jail sentences have shocked the scientific community.
Among those convicted are some of Italy's most prominent and internationally respected seismologists and geological experts.
Their defence had called for their acquittal, arguing that it was impossible to predict an earthquake. More than 5,000 scientists said the same thing when they wrote an open letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in support of the men in 2010.
Reacting to the verdict against him, Bernardo De Bernardinis, former vice-president of the Civil Protection Agency's technical department, said: "I believe myself to be innocent before God and men."
While the seven men involved are appealing against their convictions - and remain free while they do so - all are facing the prospect of being barred from ever holding public office again.