对拉奎拉地震前的4级小震,意大利大灾委员会发布了一次新闻发布会,很明确的指出未来是安全的,一周之后来了一个大地震,造成了人员伤亡和财产损失。现在开始秋后算账了,地震学家被以误杀罪起诉,这个官司的技术含量太高了,显然从地震学家的角度而言,这样的起诉是没有道理的。不过地震不能预报,信心十足地说一定没有地震也有一定风险。 http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100623/full/465992a.html Published online 22 June 2010 | Nature 465 , 992 (2010) | doi:10.1038/465992a News Italy puts seismology in the dock Scientists who assessed earthquake risk at L'Aquila could be indicted on manslaughter charges. Nicola Nosengo ROME The deadly earthquake that struck the central Italian city of L'Aquila on 6 April 2009, has had a bizarre aftershock: some of Italy's top seismologists could face charges of manslaughter for not alerting the population before the disaster. The indictment has outraged experts around the world, who note that earthquakes cannot be predicted and who say that the Italian government neglected to enforce building codes that could have reduced the toll. Citizens blame scientists for not warning of the LAquila earthquake. A. TARANTINO/AP PHOTO The indictments, issued on 3 June by the L'Aquila public prosecutor's office, name six scientists as being investigated for manslaughter in relation to the earthquake. In Italy, this step usually precedes a request for a court trial, and is meant to allow the accused time to prepare their defence. The list comprises Enzo Boschi, president of the National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology (INGV) in Rome, the main institute in charge of seismic monitoring; Giulio Selvaggi, director of the National Earthquake Center based at INGV; Franco Barberi, a volcanologist at the University of 'Roma Tre'; Claudio Eva, a professor of earth physics at the University of Genoa; Mauro Dolce, head of the seismic risk office in the Italian government's Civil Protection Agency; and Gian Michele Calvi, director of the European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering in Pavia. A government official, Bernardo De Bernardinis, deputy technical head of the Civil Protection Agency, is also under investigation. Assigning blame On 31 March 2009, all seven were in L'Aquila at a meeting of the Major Risks Committee, an expert group that advises the Civil Protection Agency on the risks of natural disasters. Frequent tremors had been recorded in the surrounding Abruzzo region, culminating in a magnitude-4.0 earthquake on 30 March. The meeting was convened by the service to ask the scientists whether a major earthquake was on its way. Immediately after that meeting, De Bernardinis and Barberi, acting president of the committee, held a press conference in L'Aquila, where De Bernardinis told reporters that the scientific community tells us there is no danger, because there is an ongoing discharge of energy. The situation looks favorable . (说的太自信了) No other members of the committee were at the press conference. But on 6 April a magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck L'Aquila, killing 308 people, leaving about 1,600 injured and more than 65,000 homeless. A group of local citizens later said that many of the earthquake's victims had been planning to leave their homes but had changed their minds after the committee's statements. (这个可能是起诉的关键) In August 2009 they filed a formal request asking a prosecutor to investigate. L'Aquila's chief prosecutor, Alfredo Rossini, told the Italian press on 3 June that this had left him no choice but to proceed with an investigation and that his office had now gathered enough information to indict the individuals named. The minutes of the 31 March meeting, though, reveal that at no point did any of the scientists say that there was no danger of a big quake. A major earthquake in the area is unlikely but cannot be ruled out, Boschi said. Selvaggi is quoted as saying that in recent times some recent earthquakes have been preceded by minor shocks days or weeks beforehand, but on the other hand many seismic swarms did not result in a major event. Eva added that because L'Aquila is in a high-risk zone it is impossible to say with certainty that there will be no large earthquake. Summing up the meeting, Barberi said, there is no reason to believe that a swarm of minor events is a sure predictor of a major shock. All the participants agreed that buildings in the area should be monitored urgently, to assess their capacity to sustain a major shock. These are the only sensible statements any scientist could make at that point, says Susan Hough, a geophysicist at the US Geological Survey in Pasadena, California. But Hough does disagree with some of the things said at the press conference. The idea that minor earthquakes release energy and thus make things better is a common misperception. But seismologists know it's not true, she says. I doubt any scientist could have said that. De Bernardinis, Boschi and Selvaggi said that they were unable to comment on the case because of the ongoing investigation. Before the indictment, Boschi had criticized the Civil Protection Agency's handling of the 31 March meeting. Such a meeting, he stated in a letter on 16 September 2009 to Guido Bertolaso, the head of the Civil Protection Agency, should have lasted hours if the Civil Protection Agency really wanted to consider all the data. Instead it only lasted one hour, and it was not followed by a joint statement but by a press conference about which we were not informed. The Civil Protection Agency responded by asking Boschi why he waited six months before objecting to the nature of the meeting, and stated that Boschi never explained what specific actions the department should have taken to reduce the risks from a potential earthquake. Solidarity Staff at INGV have signed a letter of solidarity with Boschi and Selvaggi. Seismologists worldwide have also rallied to the defence of the scientists, with almost 4,000 researchers from 100 different countries signing a letter to Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's president, urging decision-makers to concentrate on earthquake preparedness and risk mitigation rather than on prosecuting scientists for failing to do something they cannot do yet predict earthquakes. Barry Parsons, at the department of earth sciences at the University of Oxford, who signed the letter, says that Italy's maps of seismic risk are of the highest possible standard, and clearly show that Abruzzo is a very high-risk area. The proven and effective way of protecting populations is by enforcing strict building codes, he says. Scientists are often asked the wrong question, which is 'when will the next earthquake hit?' The right question is 'how do we make sure it won't kill so many people when it hits?'
Iran court orders 'stingy' husband to buy 124,000 roses An Iranian court has ordered a man to buy his wife 124,000 roses after she filed a complaint against her stingy husband to claim her dowry. An Iranian court has ordered a man to buy his wife 124,000 roses after she filed a complaint against her stingy husband to claim her dowry . After 10 years of marriage Hengameh had decided to claim her dowry of 124,000 red roses to punish her very stingy husband. Shortly after marriage I realised that Shahin was very cheap. He even refused to pay for my coffee if we went to a cafe or restaurant, said the woman. But Shahin told the court he could only afford five roses a day and complained that it was her billionaire friends who had put such ideas in her head. The court has seized his apartment worth 600 million rials (64,000 dollars) until he has bought her the entire 124,000 roses. A long stemmed red rose costs 20,000 rials (about two dollars) in Tehran. Under Iranian law, a woman can claim her dowry or mahr, which is a gift pledged by the man at the time of marriage, at any time during married life or when getting a divorce. It is common in Iran to offer gold coins, or property as mahr and the number of gold coins (worth about 260 dollars) could vary from 14 to even hundreds or thousands. An Iranian man can end up in jail over dowry debts and there has been a judicial debate whether it should be adjusted according to the man's financial status. (Agencies) 近日,伊朗一家法院判处一名男子为其妻子购买12万4千朵玫瑰,因为他的妻子向法院提起诉讼,要求她的吝啬老公拿出结婚聘礼。 伊朗女子亨格梅赫与丈夫结婚十年后,决定向其索要12万4千朵玫瑰的聘礼,以惩罚这个大吝啬鬼。 亨格梅赫说:结婚后不久我就发现沙辛特别小气。我们出去喝咖啡或者吃饭,他甚至舍不得为我付一杯咖啡的钱。 但沙辛在法庭上辩解说,他一天只能买得起五朵玫瑰花,还抱怨说这都是他妻子的富翁朋友们出的馊主意。 目前,法院已没收了沙辛价值6亿里亚尔(合6.4万美元)的房子,直到他给妻子买够了12.4万朵玫瑰才可赎回。在德黑兰,一朵长柄红玫瑰的售价为2万里亚尔(约合2美元)。 根据伊朗法律规定,女方可以在婚后任何时期或离婚时向男方索要麦亥尔(聘礼),即男方在结婚时承诺赠予女方的礼物。 在伊朗,聘礼通常为一定数量的金币或房产,金币(价值约260美元)数量从14个到几百或几千个不等。 伊朗男人可能会因为欠聘礼而坐牢,伊朗司法界也一直在争论这项法律是否应根据男方的经济状况而做出调整。 http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/news/2008-03/04/content_6506669.htm