The earthquake that hit central Italy in the middle of last night, reducing some towns to rubble and killing at least 90 people, was foretold by an Italian seismologist--but his warnings were ignored, according to news reports. However, many researchers say that the seismologist's predictions were based on inadequate evidence, and say the Italian government was right not to publicize his predictions, as they would only have spread panic. The region felt its first tremors in mid-January. Scientists say that tremors do not necessarily indicate that a larger quake is on the way, but seismologist Giampaolo Giuliani grew increasingly concerned. He published his warnings, which received some attention; according to Italian newspapers, vans with loudspeakers drove around the town of L'Aquila one month ago telling locals to evacuate their houses. Then
Giuliani, who based his forecast on concentrations of radon gas around seismically active areas, was reported to police for ...
