Italian town launches quake probe , page 1

posted on Apr, 11 2009 @ 11:58 AM

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Italian town launches quake probe

news.bbc.co.uk

The chief prosecutor of quake-hit L'Aquila said standards must be checked after experts said more structures should have withstood the quake.

Rescuers are still searching the rubble for missing people.

At least one more body was pulled out on Saturday, raising the death toll from the 6.3 magnitude quake to 293...

..."We have the duty to verify whether some buildings were really constructed out of sand, as has been indicated from several sources, or in other cases without steel,"

(visit the link for the full news article)

The Godfather of Conspira

posted on Apr, 11 2009 @ 11:58 AM

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So it seems human factors exacerbated this problem.

That's not to say it was preventable, anyone within the epicentre of a 6.3 quake is going to have a real bad day, but this article implies less people should have been killed in the surrounding urban area of L'Aquila.

Apparently shoddy construction, like in so many other disasters, is to blame.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 11/4/09 by The Godfather of Conspira]

internos

posted on Apr, 11 2009 @ 12:28 PM

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Thank you for starting a thread about this. I have no time right now, but I will add some stuff gathered by local newspapers, which journalists are phisically getting samples of some "modern" buildings which collapsed as castles of cards: i feel it's my duty to share as much as i can, since i can't help those poor people in any other way.

It will be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the responsible of the death of many of the 293 people is not the earthquake itself, but criminals who have built houses and other types of building claiming them to be antiseismic while they were using, amongs other strange stuff, sea sand, which hight content of salt corrodes the iron, and those criminals who attested the status of antiseismic without even taking a look at the buildings in question as well.
I will share what i can ASAP: in the meantime, thank you again.

[edit on 11/4/2009 by internos]

The Godfather of Conspira

posted on Apr, 11 2009 @ 12:49 PM

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reply to post by internos

You're Welcome. I get the impression your an Italian?

I'd love to hear more about this too, of course there's always something that could have been done to lessen the impact of a natural disaster, obviously evacuation for one, but now they're claiming deliberately faulty buildings that contractors realised were faulty, caused a of these deaths.

And the plot thickens...

internos

posted on Apr, 11 2009 @ 04:49 PM

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reply to post by The Godfather of Conspira

Yes, i'm from the only region of italy that can't be hit by an earthquake: it's the island in white that you will see in the map that i will share for first, the one in the middle of Mediterrean sea, i'm from Sardinia.
To start, i will share some general informations about the earthquake and its aftershocks and precursors: unlike many believe, it's not just the "big one" what caused the disaster, but also a long series of weaker shocks which weakened many buildings, especially the old/ancient houses.
But regarding this specific topic, there are four buildings to consider, the rest pertains to responsibilities of the government and omission of controls: basically, we have to separate old/ancient houses, monuments, churches from modern buildings.
The buildings in question are:

The house of students

The Hotel "Duca degli Abruzzi

Part of the civil hospital

A Building located in piazzale Paoli

I will try to find out how many people died below the debris of each one of these four buildings.

Map of seismic hazard in italy (the arrow points to the area hit by the earhquake).

This map is the base from which to start, because italian laws regarding antiseismic criteria are, basically, based on it.

This is the sequence of the shocks, (in counter-chronological order, the last one is the big shock, in red the strongest ones):

The source is Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology

This is a map of the seismic events in the area, since the big one:
(the two stars represent the main shocks, red lines are the faults)

This is an animation i've made in order to show how random were the effects on the houses:

How comes that this part of this small town didn't collapse completely? We see clearly undamaged houses close to collapsed ones: can this be accepted in Italy, on year 2009, keeping in mind the whole bunch of laws (theoretically) ruling the matter /see below)? And this is just a random example.

The faults underground broke the terrain even in surface: Onna, a small 250 inhabitants town, was hit severely: 40 died (over 250

). BUt this falls more in lack of prevention, because the houses that collapsed were more or less all ancient/very old. But there are many ways to impeed your house to collapse on you: many techniques are available: the house could even be destroyed, but won't kill you. Nothing of this was done, despite it was a precise DUTY of italian governments.

Here, look at the fault as it appears in surface (photo taken in Onna, credits

Il Centro, the best local newspaper i've ever seen:

One of the killers was the depht of the hypocentre: the more it's close to the surface, the more the expansion of the waves are davastating.
The depht of the earthquake occured on april 6th, 2009 (local time) is still uncertain but it can located for sure between 6 and 9 Km (3.7 and 5.5 miles).
It does exist a documentation reporting all the public buildings unable to resist to seismic events stronger than a certain value, but Italian Civil Protection won't share it in order to don't spread panic. And we are NOT talking about UFOs.
Another point is that there is a moltitude of laws in Italy, which clearly cover the matter: these laws, dont say that "what you will build in the future must fulfill this law", but they even prescribe to adjust everything to its standars.
In general, for example, there's the Decree of 1996, but also more recent laws, 2005 and 2008.
But to have an idea how long and complicated is the italian laws about it, here you go:

Updates on antiseismic rules

- Ordinanza 20/03/2003 (525 kb)

- Norme tecniche per il progetto la valutazione e l'adeguamento degli edifici

- Norme tecniche per il progetto sismico di opere di fondazione e di sostegno dei terreni

- Norme tecniche per il progetto sismico dei ponti

- Criteri per l'individuazione delle zone sismiche - Individuazione, formazione
e aggiornamento degli elenchi nelle medesime zone

- Chiarimenti sulle nuove norme e sulle zone sismiche aggiornate: Fonte:

Legislazionetecnica.it

- Nota esplicativa del Dipartimento Protezione Civile Uff. SSN

These can be downloaded here (.PDF)

Rules and newsletters in reference

- LEGGE 2 FEBBRAIO 1974, N. 64
Provvedimenti per le costruzioni con particolari prescrizioni per le zone sismiche

- DECRETO MINISTERIALE 3 MARZO 1975, N. 40
Disposizioni concernenti l'applicazione delle norme tecniche per le costruzioni in zone sismiche

- LEGGE 26 APRILE 1976, N.176

- Norme per l'istituzione del servizio sismico e disposizioni Inerenti al movimenti sismici del 1971, del novembre e dicembre 1972, del dicembre 1974 e del gennaio 1975, in comuni della provincia di Perugia

- DECRETO MINISTERO LL. P P. 2 LUGLIO 1981

- Normativa per le riparazioni ed il raffor-zamento degli edifici danneggiati dal sisma nelle regioni Basilicata, Campania e Puglia

- CIRCOLARE MINISTERO LL.PP.n.21745 (30.07.1981)

- Legge 14 maggio 1981, n. 219 - art. 10. Istruzioni relative alla normativa tecnica per la riparazione ed il rafforzamento degli edifici in muratura danneggiati dal sisma.

These can be downloaded here.

Rules and newsletters in general:

-DECRETO MINISTERO LL.PP. 24 GENNAIO 1986
Norme tecniche relative alle costruzioni antis ism iche. (G.U. 12-5-1986, n. 108)

- CIRCOLARE MINISTERO BB.CC.AA. n. 1032 (Comitato Naz. Prev. Patr. Cuit. dal Rischio Sismico, 18 luglio 1986)
Interventi sul patrimonio monumentale a tipologia specialistica in zone sismiche: raccomandazioni.

- CIRCOLARE MINISTERO LL.PP. N. 27690(Pres. Cons. Superiore - Servizio Tecnico Centrale, 19 luglio 1986)

- Decreto Ministeriale 24 gennaio 1986. Istruzioni relative alla normativa tecnica per le costruzioni in zona sismica.

- CONSIGLIO SUPERIORE dei Lavori Pubblici I° Sezione - Adunanza del 27.02.1992 prot. n° 29 PARERE TECNICO

- Quesito sulle norme tecniche da applicare in caso di progettazione di opere in muratura. ( quesiti posti dalla Regione Siciliana - Genio Civile di Ragusa )

- MINISTERO LL. PP. Decreto Ministeriale 16 gennaio 1996(G.U. 5-2-1996, N. 29) (tavole sinottiche in costruzione)

- MINISTERO LL.PP. Circolare 10 aprile 1997, n. 65/AA.GG. (G.U. n. 97 del 28.04.97) (tavole sinottiche in costruzione)

- Decreto Legge 30 Gennaio 1998, n. 6 Coordinato con la Legge di conversione 30 Marzo 1998, n. 61 - Ulteriori interventi urgenti in favore delle zone terremotate delle regi oni Marche e Umbria e di altre zone colpite da eventi calamitosi ( tavole sinottiche in costruzione)

- Legge 30 Marzo 1998, n. 61 Conversione in Legge, con modificazioni, del decreto-legge 30 gennaio 1998, n. 6, recante ulteriori interventi urgenti in favore delle zone terremotate delle regioni Marche e Umbria e di altre zone colpite da eventi calamitosi. (tavole sinottiche in costruzione)

- Decreto Ministero delle Finanze 28 s e ttembre 1998, n.499

- Regolamento recante norme di attuazione dell'articolo 12 della legge 27 dicembre 1997, n. 449, in materia di agevolazioni per i territori di Umbria e Marche colpiti da eventi sismici e per le zone ad elevato rischio sismico. ( tavole sinottiche in costruzione)

- Ordinanza n. 2947 Ministero dell'Interno 24 febbraio 1999<
Ulteriori disposizioni per i danni conseguenti la crisi sismica iniziata il 26 settembre 1997 nel territorio delle regioni Umbria e Marche. (tavole sinottiche in costruzione)

- Ordinanza n. 2991 Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri 31 Maggio 1999

- Ulteriori disposizioni per i danni conseguenti la crisi sismica iniziata il 26 settembre 1997 nel territorio delle regioni Umbria e Marche ed altre misure urgenti di protezione civile. (tavole sinottiche in costruzione)

These can be downloaded here (.PDF)

In my next post, when i'll find the time, i will share the first results related to the buildings in question, i'm also getting in direct touch with a journalist of the local newspaper which is leading the investigation: BTW, the chief of their journalists lost both his sons: he saw his daughter dying (she was 16 Y.O. and tried unsuccesfully to rescue his son 18 Y.O.)

.

[edit on 11/4/2009 by internos]

Ben Niceknowinya

posted on Apr, 11 2009 @ 05:07 PM

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reply to post by internos

Internos...thanx for sharing......Anzi, io anche sono da L'|Italia, e vengo dall'Abruzzo!!!! Figurati!!!! Da un paese piccolo, che si chiam Orsogna, circa 40 kilometri da Pescara.....

In any way......I'm deeply saddened by this event, as I was saying above, I'm from this region of Italy, and have MOST of my family there, to this day. hey are closer to the sea, but they actually felt it too.

Tragedy. truly.

internos

posted on Apr, 11 2009 @ 05:24 PM

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reply to post by Ben Niceknowinya

Ben, i'm so happy to meet someone from Abruzzo. What can i say, amico mio? A tragedy may hit randomly, but i really want to know who are the criminals who built the hospital and those other buildings, just some years ago.

It's not will of revenge, it's just need of justice, and since i'm stuck where i am right now, all i can do is to contribute this way). There are so many people sleeping into their cars

People who lost everything. Someone has to pay for this. It was nice to meet you, and please come to Italy as soon as you can.

internos

posted on Apr, 13 2009 @ 05:47 AM

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As promised, here's an update:

A national scandal has erupted in Italy just hours after the mass funeral of 205 of the 293 victims of Abruzzo's deadly earthquake, amid allegations that rubble and debris have revealed the use of second-rate materials, including a deadly mix of beach sand in the manufacture of concrete.

The use of sand high in salt content causes the rusting and corrosion of vital steel supports, weakening foundations and compromising the safety of modern buildings.

The Italian Public Prosecutor's Office has begun a formal investigation of the L'Aquila disaster, and its chief, Adriano Rossini, warned during a press conference on Saturday that it is likely that there will "not only be investigations but undoubtedly arrests, too".

"If it should be confirmed - and we have one case already in which it is confirmed - that marine sand has been used ... it is known, well known, that beach sand corrodes cement and that it does not hold," he said.

Throughout the weekend, carabinieri have been given permission to begin removing bricks, mortar, parts of walls and internal walls which will be taken in as evidence for tests. Among the potential criminal charges, authorities warn, is "culpable disaster".

Mr Rossini said: "I want to investigate this to the very bottom ... I want to know why these buildings came down and why, as a consequence, all these people died. We want to know if this happened because of the quake or if the little hands of men were involved, men who built badly or used bad materials or who speculated or who used cement and concrete that could never have held. We will proceed with all the rigour that this utterly unsustainable situation requires."

www.stuff.co.nz...

One of the problems is that L'Aquila's land registry office (where all planning documentations are held) collapsed during the Earthquake, as reported by the article.

Full article here

Tonight, i've been watching interviews with some students who were living in the house of students: they have been convoked by the prosecutor because time ago, they pointed out to the autorities that cracks were coming out all over the building, and some genius, after a quick visual check, responded that "there was nothing to worry about".
In particular, a girl, four days before the Earthquake, decided to move away from the building, because she didn't feel safe anymore: the house of the student was a building with 50 rooms and 119 sleeping accommodations: maybe a better check was due, (wasn't it?) especially since it was hit by 400 shocks before the big one. At least 11 students died because who made the check was too lazy

The building of the Prefecture, which is supposed to coordinate the rescuers and all the other emergency operations, collapsed.
Here you can watch the video made by the Police, the building in question is the one which reads "Palazzo del governo".

The hospital, which is supposed to be the most important building of the town, was damaged in its 90%:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/225f682768c09ff1.jpg[/atsimg]

And so on, the list is (sadly) very long: as promised, I will share all the updates i will able to, about this story.

TaitenWolf

posted on Apr, 14 2009 @ 01:59 PM

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Check this out, there are no sun spots we are told, and minimal solar activity. SOHO did not catch this info posted below..

Russia on April 6, 2008 started the international study program of two space observatories: [TESIS] PHOTON (Russia) and HINODE (Japan). The telescopes of two automatic spacecraft synchronously observed during three days, as the first powerful active region of the new magnetic belt of the sun gradually is destroyed on their eyes. And it is here on the third day of the program, when both apparatuses prepared to replace the purpose of a study, the patience of two scientific associations was compensated. Directly one of the first solar flares in the new cycle of activity occurred on the edge of solar disk in the projection ideal for the observations. Both observatories, which worked with the maximum frequency, after several hours wrote down entire cycle of the development of flash - from the first insignificant brightening of the crown of the sun to the phase of maximum and further up to the complete destruction of flare loops.

One of the first nova explosions of cycle of solar activity proved to be very uncommon. It proved to be completely invisible for the geostationary satellites GOES, which accomplish continuous monitoring of the sun and which are been basic information source about the events in the sun. Specifically, according to the data of these apparatuses the classification of all solar flares from the insignificant, which obtain index A with the classification is accomplished, before the most powerful events, proceeding in all more than twenty times for the cycle of solar activity and [ob]o[znachayushchikhsya] by the index of the X. none of the apparatuses GOES, however, registered the occurred event.

This event however, they noted well on the Earth. Already on the following day in orbit of the Earth those dispersing from the flame of indignation arrived, after causing first in this month magnetic storm on the high geocentric latitudes. On middle latitudes, in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, occurred somewhat less strong disturbances of the magnetosphere. To that, in order to overcome 150 million kilometers of interplanetary space, flare shock waves were required only 28 hours.

Today on April 10, in the last day of the program of joint observations, Russian and Japanese observatories will replace purpose. The coronal holes will this time become the subject of their study: the regions of extremely low luminosity, which were formed during the recent several days at the equator of the sun. Working in the pair, [TESIS] and HINODE will attempt in the components to examine the internal structure of these objects, and to also measure the temperature of plasma inside them. This will make it possible to understand how is caused a drop in the luminosity in the hole: by the simple shortage of substance or by sharp reduction in the temperature of plasma. The full treatment of all materials of observations must be completed on April 20, 2009. 66.163.168.225... This should explain it all. I