L'Aquila after the quake

Early in the morning of April 6, 2009, an earthquake hit the central Italian town of L'Aquila. Although the shock was not particularly strong, at 5.8 on the Richter scale, the historic fabric of the town suffered severe damage, and almost 300 died. In this photo, the devastation by the local prefecture (government office) is clear to see.

In the aftermath, huge controversy erupted with the prosecution of several Italian seismologists who were accused of giving false reassurance in the run-up to the quake.

Predicting, quantifying and expressing the risks of natural disasters like earthquakes is a complicated area. UCL's Institute of Risk and Disaster Reduction specialises in the cross-disciplinary study of disasters and risk, their causes, and how governments, people and culture react to them.

IRDR's annual conference takes place this Friday (14 June 2013), covering a range of fascinating topics relating to risk and disasters. All welcome, but please register online first.

Photo credit: Joanna Faure Walker (UCL IRDR)

Links

• UCL Institute of Risk and Disaster Reduction
• UCL Department of Earth Sciences
• Risk and Disaster Reduction Conference 2013 - information and booking

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