planet earth looks blue

A 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit Italy today, killing at least 92 people.  The destruction was devastating - 50,000 are now homeless, historic treasures are lost or destroyed, thousands of buildings are destroyed.  There are still people trapped underneath the rubble.  Rescue workers are doing everything they can to find any possible survivors.  The quake hit L’Aquila, which is 60 miles east of Rome.  The area is no stranger to major quakes.  This is the third of this scale of earthquake to hit the region in the past 12 years.

Could the devastation have been prevented?  Probably not of the Italian buildings, some dating back to the Renaissance period, but maybe lives could have been saved.  Apparently, an Italian scientist, Giampaolo Giuliani, was trying to warn people about the earthquake, and somebody reported him to the police.  According to Giuliani, the presence of radon gas was a sign that a major earthquake was about to occur.  He posted the news on YouTube, and warned locals.  There have been tremors in the region, but no one was alarmed as they are normal in such as seismic area.  A state of emergency has been declared by the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.