Six Italian scientists and an ex-government official have been sentenced to six years in prison over the 2009 deadly earthquake in L'Aquila. A regional court found them guilty of multiple manslaughter. Prosecutors said the defendants gave a falsely reassuring statement before the quake, while the defence maintained there was no way to predict major quakes.The court wasn't requiring the geologists to pull a prediction out of thin air. These particular geologists actually had a set of measurements in advance of the quake, implying that a quake was more likely than usual. They had a chance to give some type of carefully modulated warning based on these actual measurements, but chose instead to sound neutral. It's like a weatherman watching radar, seeing a hook echo approaching town, and then going on the air to say "Sunny and fair today! Break out the barbecues!"
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