Seven scientists and other experts were indicted on manslaughter charges Wednesday for allegedly failing to sufficiently warn residents before a devastating earthquake that killed more than 300 people in central Italy in 2009.
周三,意大利7名科學(xué)家、專(zhuān)家因2009年未能向居民發(fā)出地震警報(bào)而被控過(guò)失殺人罪。那場(chǎng)強(qiáng)震導(dǎo)致意大利中部300多人喪生。
Defence lawyers condemned the charges, saying it's impossible to predict earthquakes. Seismologists have long concurred, saying the technology doesn't exist to predict a quake and that no major temblor has ever been foretold.
科學(xué)家們的辯護(hù)律師譴責(zé)這一指控說(shuō),預(yù)測(cè)地震是根本無(wú)法做到的。長(zhǎng)時(shí)間以來(lái)地震學(xué)家們一致認(rèn)為,以目前的科學(xué)技術(shù),還不能預(yù)測(cè)地震,而且人類(lèi)從未準(zhǔn)確預(yù)知過(guò)任何一次大地震。
Judge Giuseppe Romano Gargarella ordered the members of the national government's Great Risks commission, which evaluates potential for natural disasters, to go on trial in L'Aquila on Sept. 20.
法官約瑟佩•羅曼諾•加格瑞勒命令意大利政府的高風(fēng)險(xiǎn)委員會(huì)成員于9月20日在拉奎拉接受審判。該委員會(huì)負(fù)責(zé)評(píng)估發(fā)生自然災(zāi)害的可能性。
Italian media quoted the judge as saying the defendants "gave inexact, incomplete and contradictory information" about whether smaller tremors felt by L'Aquila residents in the six months before the April 6, 2009 quake should have constituted grounds for a quake warning.
意大利媒體援引法官的話(huà)說(shuō),被告?zhèn)儗?duì)于拉奎拉居民在2009年4月6日的強(qiáng)震發(fā)生前6個(gè)月期間感到的小地震是否預(yù)示著大地震的到來(lái)“傳達(dá)了不準(zhǔn)確、不完整、不一致的信息”。
Specifically, prosecutors focused on a memo issued after a March 31, 2009 meeting of the Great Risks commission which was called because of mounting concerns about the months of seismic activity in the region.
檢察官還呈上了2009年3月31日高風(fēng)險(xiǎn)委員會(huì)召開(kāi)會(huì)議后發(fā)布的備忘錄。這次會(huì)議就是因?yàn)檫B月來(lái)該地區(qū)地震活動(dòng)頻繁引發(fā)民眾擔(dān)憂(yōu)而召開(kāi)的。
According to the commission's memo — issued one week before the big quake — the experts concluded that it was "improbable" that there would be a major quake though it added that one couldn't be excluded.
在該委員會(huì)于大地震一周前發(fā)布的這一備忘錄中,這些專(zhuān)家得出結(jié)論說(shuō),“不大可能”發(fā)生大地震,不過(guò)備忘錄還說(shuō),也不能完全排除發(fā)生大地震的可能性。
Afterward, members of the commission gave reassuring interviews to local media stressing the impossibility of predicting quakes and that even six months worth of low-magnitude temblors was not unusual in the highly seismic region and didn't mean a big one was coming.
隨后,委員會(huì)成員在面向當(dāng)?shù)孛襟w的訪(fǎng)談中強(qiáng)調(diào),預(yù)測(cè)地震是不可能的,盡管六個(gè)月來(lái)多次發(fā)生小地震,但在這種地震多發(fā)區(qū)并不算反常,也不意味著即將發(fā)生一場(chǎng)大地震,讓民眾放寬心。
The 6.3-magnitude quake killed 308 people in and around the medieval town, which was largely reduced to rubble. Thousands of survivors lived in tent camps or temporary housing for months.
這場(chǎng)6.3級(jí)地震導(dǎo)致這座中世紀(jì)城鎮(zhèn)內(nèi)外308人喪生,城內(nèi)大部分地區(qū)都成了一片廢墟。數(shù)千名幸存者連續(xù)幾個(gè)月都住在帳篷或臨時(shí)房屋里。