Disaster … an aerial view of L’Aquila after the 2009 earthquake that killed more than 300 people. Photo: AP

Six Italian scientists and a government official have been found guilty of multiple manslaughter for underestimating the risks of a killer earthquake in L’Aquila in 2009.

They were sentenced to six years in jail in a case that has provoked outrage among scientists worldwide.

We cannot call this a victory. It’s a tragedy, whatever way you look at it.

The experts were also ordered to pay more than €9 million ($11.5 million) in damages to survivors and inhabitants. Under the Italian justice system, the seven will remain free until they have exhausted two chances to appeal against the verdict.

Aftermath …. a man walks past buildings destroyed in the earthquake. Photo: Reuters

Some commentators had warned that any convictions would dissuade other experts from sharing their expertise for fear of legal retribution.

The prosecutor, Fabio Picuti, had asked for jail sentences of four years for each defendant for failing to alert the population of the walled medieval town of L’Aquila to the risks, days before the 6.3-magnitude quake killed 309 people.

All seven were members of the Major Risks Committee, which met in the central Italian town on March 31, 2009, six days before the quake devastated the region, tearing down houses and churches and leaving thousands homeless.

Bernardo De Bernardinis … gave media interviews saying tremors “posed no danger”. Photo: AFP

“This is a historic sentence, above all for the victims,” said Wania della Vigna, a lawyer who represents 11 plaintiffs, including the family of an Israeli student who died when a student residence collapsed on top of him.

“It also marks a step forward for the justice system and I hope it will lead to change, not only in Italy but across the world,” she said.

The bright blue, classroom-sized temporary tribunal in L’Aquila – built on an industrial estate after the town’s historic court was flattened in the quake – was packed with lawyers, advisers and international media for the verdict.

Four of the defendants were in court, as well as a small group of survivors.

Aldo Scimia, whose mother was killed, wept as the verdict was read out.

“We cannot call this a victory. It’s a tragedy, whatever way you look at it, it won’t bring our loved ones back,” he said. “I continue to call this a massacre at the hand of the state, but at least now we hope that our children may live safer lives,” he said.

Mr Picuti had criticised the experts for providing “an incomplete, inept, unsuitable and criminally mistaken” analysis, which reassured locals and led many to stay indoors when the first tremors hit.

The government committee met after a series of small tremors in the preceding weeks had sown panic – particularly after a resident began making worrying unofficial earthquake predictions.

Italy’s top seismologists were called to evaluate the situation and the then-vice-director of the Civil Protection Agency, Bernardo De Bernardinis, gave media interviews saying the seismic activity in L’Aquila posed “no danger”.

“The scientific community continues to assure me that, to the contrary, it’s a favourable situation because of the continuous discharge of energy,” he said.

A government lawyer, Carlo Sica, who had called for the seven defendants to be acquitted, said that minutes from the March 31 meeting were not valid as evidence because they were written up only after the April 6 earthquake.

“They are not guilty of anything, the earthquake’s no one’s fault,” he said.

Filippo Dinacci, a lawyer for Mr Bernardinis and Mauro Dolce, the head of the Civil Protection’s seismic risk office, criticised the charges last week as something out of “medieval criminal law”.

“The ruling in my opinion is not fair. We will certainly be appealing,” said Alessandra Stefano, the lawyer for the expert Gian Michele Calvi, after the verdict.

Scientists were outraged when the charges were brought against the geophysicists in 2010. Many complained that they were merely scapegoats and warned against putting science on trial.

More than 5000 scientists sent an open letter to President Giorgio Napolitano denouncing the trial against colleagues for failing to predict a quake – something widely acknowledged to be impossible.

The seven include Enzo Boschi, who at the time was the head of Italy’s national geophysics institute; Giulio Selvaggi, head of the national earthquake centre in Rome; and Franco Barberi from Rome’s University Three.

The other scientists found guilty are Mr Dolce, Mr Calvi, the head of the European centre of earthquake engineering; and Claudio Eva from the University of Genoa.

Agence France-Presse

AT LEAST $28 will be added to a typical family’s health insurance cover next financial year after the federal government moved to cap increases in its private health insurance rebate to the rate of inflation.

The rebate now increases in line with premiums, but from April 2014 it will only rise by the rate of inflation – or in line with premiums if they increase less than inflation.

This policy is likely to dilute the impact of the rebate over time if premiums follow recent trends and rise by more than inflation. In February for example, a premium rise of 5.06 per cent was approved by the federal government, more than four times the inflation rate in the year to June.

Also, those paying a “lifetime cover loading” on their health insurance because they signed up after the age of 31 will no longer receive a rebate on that component of their premiums. This effectively increases the penalty for taking out health insurance after the age of 31.

The health insurance rebate is projected to be one of the fastest growing areas of federal health expenditure and the government and consumer groups claim the changes will make the rebate more sustainable.

But the opposition’s health spokesman, Peter Dutton, said he was concerned about the impact of the changes on family budgets and labelled them Labor’s “latest cash grab”.

Dr Michael Armitage, chief executive of the industry peak body Private Healthcare Australia, said that because health inflation runs at a figure significantly higher than the consumer price index “it is likely that consumers will be paying more for their private health care”.

A spokeswoman for the nation’s largest health insurer, Medibank Private, said ”a range of other reforms will be required to ensure that this does not lead to an adverse impact on the overall cost of health insurance for all Australians”.

The government estimates the changes will add an average of $28 a year to family health insurance premiums and $14 a year for singles in 2013-14. Limiting increases in the rebate to inflation will save the government $700 million over the next three years while eliminating the rebate on the lifetime cover loading components of premiums will save $390 million.

These savings will help offset the cost of dental health reforms, the government said in its midyear economic and fiscal outlook yesterday.

Under legislation passed earlier this year, singles on $83,000 and families above $166,000 a year begin to lose the rebate, typically worth $1000 a year to families. It cuts out altogether for singles on $129,000, and families on $258,000.

Robert Cooke, managing director of private hospital owner Healthscope, said the latest changes were ”not a fundamental shift in policy, but combined with the means testing of the private health insurance rebate, it’s a further erosion of the value of health insurance”.

In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, health insurer NIB welcomed news ”changes to the rebate will be accompanied by discussions over the setting of health insurance premiums”. The decision to effectively freeze the rebate allocation, NIB said, opens the way to ”allow health insurers to set premiums independent of government interference”.