His Excellency, the Ambassador of the Republic of Italy in the Czech Republic, Mr. Pasquale D´Avino
Your Excellency, we address You with following open letter, concerning our official position towards recent decision of Judicial Court in l´Aquilla. This open letter shall be published on the webpage of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic on Friday, 26th of October 2012. We, as representatives of the geoscientific institutes within the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, wish to formally object to Your Excellency with regard to the unprecedented sentences passed against seven members of the National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks, who assessed the probability of a large earthquake in the area of L’Aquila in 2009.
The research undertaken by a number of geoscientific institutes within the Czech Republic
includes studies of the processes associated with earthquake activity. It is simply not possible,
given that which is presently known about earthquake processes, to predict seismic events days or
months in advance. This subject represents a major field of research for many seismologists across
the globe and, while some initial progress has been made, we as a community remain far from being
able to predict individual events.
All seismologists working in seismically active regions are under great pressure from both the
public and the media to comment on the actual seismic situation. This pressure creates a situation
in which it is difficult to conduct fundamental basic research as scientists are not given the time
needed for rigorous detailed studies. It is a situation that has just been made far more
challenging as a result of the nonsensical sentences passed by the Italian court in L’Aquila. The
potential threat of manslaughter charges for failing to predict earthquakes events does not enable
the fundamental research to be conducted properly and it is only this that will, ultimately,
increase safety and protect the millions of people living within seismically active regions.
We therefore wish to formally protest against the sentences given to Franco Barberi Enzo
Boschi, Giulio Selvaggi, Gian Michele Calvi, Claudio Eva, Mauro Dolce, and Bernardo De
Bernardinis.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Josef Stemberk,
director of the Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics,
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic,
on behalf of the directors of the geoscientific institutes within the Academy of Sciences of
the Czech Republic:
Dr. Pavel Hejda
Institute of Geophysics
Prof. Pavel Bosák
Institute of Geology
Dr. Josef Stemberk
Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics
In Prague, October 24, 2012
26 Oct 2012
