L’Aquila earthquake, the government condemned for the reassurances before the earthquake: 8 million to the families of the victims
The government was sentenced to compensate some of the victims of the earthquake that hit L’Aquila in 2009, for the reassurances given to the population before the dramatic earthquake of April 6, in which 309 people lost their lives. This was decided by the Civil Court of L’Aquila, which sentenced the Presidency of the Council of Ministers to compensate 30 civil parties for about 8 million euros, for the statements made at the time by Bernardo De Bernardinis, former number two of the National Department of Civil protection already convicted with a final sentence to 2 years’ imprisonment.
The decision concerns in particular the Commission for major risks, a consultative body of the Presidency of the Council, which met in L’Aquila on 31 March 2009. After the meeting, held five days before the tragic quake, the Commission reassured the population, who had been struggling for months with an earthquake swarm.
“Bernardo De Bernardinis in particular”, reads a passage of the sentence, “had stated with regard to the seismic swarm that ‘there is no danger, I also told the mayor, the scientific community continues to confirm that indeed it is a favorable situation, therefore, a continuous discharge of energy .. ‘, these statements have been deemed suitable in criminal proceedings to affect the behavior of citizens and consequently, as the result of negligence, inexperience, and imprudence, also to found the criminal liability of the same and the consequent conviction of today’s civil defendant to pay compensation for the damages suffered by the victims”.
“Having therefore ascertained, at least potentially, the suitability of De Bernardinis’ statements to have a causal effect on the conduct of the citizens of L’Aquila, it is a matter of verifying here whether this causal efficacy has also been demonstrated, at the end of the civil investigation, in the against the plaintiffs who did not appear as plaintiffs in the criminal trial”, affirms the sentence of the judge of the Civil Court of L’Aquila.
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