Great
Earthquakes In Diverse Places
Dozens of Earthquakes hit Italy, but none so far in Rome
despite rumoured prediction
By Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press
ROME - More than 22 earthquakes struck Italy by noon Wednesday, as
is normal for the quake-prone country. But none was the
devastating temblor purportedly predicted by a now-dead scientist
to strike Rome.
Despite efforts by seismologists to debunk the myth of a major
Roman quake on May 11, 2011 and stress that quakes can never be
predicted, some Romans left town just in case, spurred by
rumour-fueled fears that ignore science.
Many storefronts were shuttered, for example, in a neighbourhood
of Chinese-owned shops near Rome's central train station. And an
agriculture farm lobby group said a survey of farm-hotels outside
the capital indicated some superstitious Romans had headed to the
countryside for the day.
The fears are all thanks to a purported prediction of a major
Roman quake Wednesday attributed to self-taught seismologist
Raffaele Bendandi, who died in 1979. However, Paola Lagorio,
president of the association in charge of Bendandi's
documentation, says there's no evidence Bendandi ever made such a
precise prediction.
Adam Burgess, a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of
Kent said rumours like these tend to occur in "information
vacuums," such as during war when there are situations of
uncertainty. In this case, he suggested, the viral
rumour-mongering about a Roman quake may reflect a lack of trust
Italians feel toward their government.
"In the Italian context this might be exacerbated by the more
typical experience of the Italian state where even laws and
legislation that are passed will often mean very little in
practice," he said. In such cases, even efforts by the government
to put out correct, timely information can backfire.
Italian officials have taken extraordinary measures to try to calm
nerves and debunk the myth.
The country's Civil Protection department posted a dense
information packet on its website stressing that quakes can't be
predicted and that Rome isn't particularly at risk. Toll-free
numbers were set aside at city hall to field questions. And the
national geophysics institute opened its doors to the public to
inform the curious and the concerned about seismology.
Alberto Michelini, a researcher at the institute, couldn't even
get into the seismology room to check how many quakes had been
registered Wednesday because it was so full of student groups and
others visiting for the day.
Instead, he pulled the information up on his iPhone: 22 quakes
before noon, the strongest a sequence of three quakes early
Wednesday around Mt. Etna in Sicily registering magnitudes of 2.6,
2.9 and 3.1.
"We tried to take advantage of this moment of fear and psychosis
to try to explain what we do," Michelini said.
That includes stressing that no one can scientifically predict an
earthquake, but that preventative measures can be taken, such as
constructing buildings in quake-prone areas according to
anti-seismic norms.
"Maybe we should thank Bendandi and all this psychosis because we
can take advantage of it to talk about earthquakes," he said.
"Normally it's too difficult to speak about them because you only
hear about them after they happen."
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Meera Selva contributed from London.