Earthquake in L’Aquila: Victims deemed “30% responsible” for their own death – 20 Minutes

The victims of the earthquake of April 6, 2009 in L’Aquila, in central Italy, will ultimately not all be treated the same way. An Italian court has ruled that a number of them were partly responsible for their deaths and that compensation payments to their families should be reduced, Italian media reported on Wednesday. which had devastated in the middle of the night, at 03:32, the historic center of the city, reducing it to ruins, had caused 309 deaths. Seized in civil proceedings by the families of 24 people who had died in one of the destroyed buildings, the judge declared that the victims had returned to bed despite two tremors which had occurred earlier during the night. This “reckless behavior” made them “30% responsible” for their own death, estimated the judge, according to the daily Il Messaggero. The families plan to appeal Maria Grazia Piccinini, lawyer and mother of Ilaria Rambaldi, a student of 25 year old killed in the earthquake, said Tuesday’s judgment was “absurd”, given that experts had downplayed the risk of a deadly earthquake. “My daughter was reassured, like everyone else,” she told Corriere della Sera, adding that the families, who are seeking damages, would appeal. Seven members of the Government Commission for the Prevention of Major Risks had been sentenced for not having given adequate precautionary advice to residents. The earthquake, which had devastated the medieval center of the capital of Abruzzo, had also left 1,600 injured and at least 80,000 homeless.