Earthquake prediction on 6 April 2009, the Abruzzo region of central Italy was rocked by a magnitude M 6.3 earthquake. In the city of L'Aquila and surrounding area around 60,000 buildings collapsed or were seriously damaged, resulting in 308 deaths and 67,500 people left homeless. Around the same time, it was reported that Giampaolo Giuliani had predicted the earthquake, had tried to warn the public, but had been muzzled by the Italian government. Giampaolo Giuliani was a laboratory technician at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. As a hobby he had for some years been monitoring radon using instruments he had designed
Italian Cultural Centre Vancouver dump in the heart of Vancouver East. Both the Provincial Government and the City of Vancouver kept their promise. In order to draw a wider participation of members, a Federation of Italian Associations was formed on a Canadian legal basis: the Italian Folk Society, later to become the Italian Cultural Centre Society. The original societies pertaining to the Federation were the following: Associazione Nazionale Alpini, Circolo Abruzzese, Coro Italiano della British Columbia, Famee Furlane, Famiglia Bagnolese, Italian Canadian Rod & Gun Club, Italian Mutual Aid Society, Molisana Society, Selva del Montello, Sicilian Club, Società Culturale Vicentini, St. Jude Italian Society