Well, the sentence is not really about "earthquake prediction", but about the fact that some hours before the big earthquake alarms from the INGV (the italian institute for earthquake monitoring, one of the best in the world) were ignored.
Of course nobody can predict earthquakes, but in L'Aquila's quake there were strong evidence of "something happening", and they were ignored: that's why they were found guilty.
P.s. I'm from Italy
Any sources for the "INGV" alarms and the "strong evidence" and that they "were ignored"?
Because the other sources say that there were small shocks before and the scientists consciously decided based on what they know that this does not make an earthquake more likely.
