Alphabet Soup: Message and Delivery: Research

We were asked to collect visual research on an article from a newspaper on the 23rd of October.

I chose to look at the case involving the seven scientists which were put on trial for failing to alarm La Aquila, a small Italian town, of a devastating earth quake which killed 308 people.

 
 Wikipedia:

The 2009 L' Aquila earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in central Italy. The main shock occurred at 3:32 local time (1:32 UTC) on 6 April 2009, and was rated 5.8 on the Richter scale and 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale; its epicentre was near L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, which together with surrounding villages suffered most damage. There have been several thousand foreshocks and aftershocks since December 2008, more than thirty of which had a Richter magnitude greater than 3.5.  308 people are known to have died. 

My original article was from the Sun, and from analysis of the text its easy to see that the language used is very informal, and it is not taken as serious as the matter actually is. Picking a newspaper like the sun allows me to compare the views and opinions with a more formal and more opinionated newspaper like the guardian.

Guardian:

 “If more attention had been paid, proactively, to this aspect of earthquake mitigation, and less to retrospectively hunting down scapegoats after the event, the toll of death and injury and the degree of damage would have been reduced enormously.”

  

 Sun:

 “A GROUP of boffins were jailed for six years after they failed to predict a killer earthquake”

  It's clear to see the difference, in use of language and the opinion of the subject. 

So from the research i moved on to looking at the visual aspects of the earthquake. I found some photography of the earthquake which captured the devastation and the beauty of the Italian town.

--> Gianfilippo De Rossi was the name of the photographer.

 

The photographs have given me a realistic impression of the devastation which the earthquake caused which led me onto looking into the deaths and the statistics of the earthquake.

-Rated 5.8 on the Richter scale and 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale.

-There have been several thousand foreshocks and aftershocks since December 2008, more than thirty of which had a Richter magnitude greater than 3.5.   

-308 people are known to have died. 

I tried finding some info-graphics on the earthquake, a graphic way of displaying the information, but i could only find info on other devastating earthquakes.

From looking at these info-graphics i stumbled upon an awareness campaign for the earthquake in Japan, which has some really interesting and original visuals!

 I also found a similar campaign which was more focused on exhibiting the awareness posters which i found really interesting. The posters were based around an earthquake which happened in Turkey, in a city called 'VAN'. 

Looking at the awareness of natural disasters wasn't as relevant to my newspaper as it could of been. The article focused on how the scientists had failed to give out correct information, which lead me to looking at safety signs and safety precaution, preferably ones which relate to natural disasters.