The Dam That Did Not Break — And Killed 2,000 People Anyway
Downstream Dead
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On 9 October 1963, a mountain fell into a reservoir in the Italian Alps.
The dam held. Nearly 2,000 people died anyway.
The Vajont Dam was an engineering triumph, a 261-metre double-curvature
arch, one of the tallest in the world. It is still standing today. That
is the horror of this story: the structure never failed. The people who
built it did.
For years, geologists had warned that Monte Toc, the mountain above the
reservoir, was moving. The slope crept faster every time the water level
rose. Local officials protested. A journalist was prosecuted for writing
about it. The filling continued anyway.
At 10:39 pm, roughly 260 million cubic metres of rock slid into the lake
in under a minute. The displaced water rose 250 metres over the crest of
the dam and fell into the Piave valley below. Longarone, Pirago, Rivalta
and Villanova were erased in minutes. The dam was left almost untouched.
This episode covers the geology that was known and ignored, the sale of the plant from SADE to the newly nationalised ENEL months before the collapse, the trial that was moved hundreds of kilometres away from the victims, and why no senior executive ever went to prison.
SOURCES & FURTHER READING
UNESCO Memory of the World — Criminal Proceedings of the Vajont dam
disaster: https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-worl...
Fondazione Vajont — full chronology of the plant and the trial (PDF):
https://fondazionevajont.org/wp-conte...
AGU Landslide Blog — technical breakdown of the slide:
https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2...
Earth Magazine — Benchmarks: the Vajont landslide:
https://www.earthmagazine.org/article...
Rachel Carson Center — Expecting Disaster: the 1963 landslide:
https://www.environmentandsociety.org...
Casualty figures vary by source. The court record lists 1,910 dead; most
histories cite around 2,000; some geological surveys estimate up to 2,500.
Downstream Dead investigates the dams, reservoirs and floods that killed
thousands, and the people who let it happen. Subscribe for a new case
every week.
#vajont #damfailure #engineeringdisaster #documentary #history
1 Comments
The Dam That Did Not Break — And Killed 2,000 People Anyway
Downstream Dead
903 views
On 9 October 1963, a mountain fell into a reservoir in the Italian Alps.
The dam held. Nearly 2,000 people died anyway.
The Vajont Dam was an engineering triumph, a 261-metre double-curvature
arch, one of the tallest in the world. It is still standing today. That
is the horror of this story: the structure never failed. The people who
built it did.
For years, geologists had warned that Monte Toc, the mountain above the
reservoir, was moving. The slope crept faster every time the water level
rose. Local officials protested. A journalist was prosecuted for writing
about it. The filling continued anyway.
At 10:39 pm, roughly 260 million cubic metres of rock slid into the lake
in under a minute. The displaced water rose 250 metres over the crest of
the dam and fell into the Piave valley below. Longarone, Pirago, Rivalta
and Villanova were erased in minutes. The dam was left almost untouched.
This episode covers the geology that was known and ignored, the sale of the plant from SADE to the newly nationalised ENEL months before the collapse, the trial that was moved hundreds of kilometres away from the victims, and why no senior executive ever went to prison.
SOURCES & FURTHER READING
UNESCO Memory of the World — Criminal Proceedings of the Vajont dam
disaster: https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-worl...
Fondazione Vajont — full chronology of the plant and the trial (PDF):
https://fondazionevajont.org/wp-conte...
AGU Landslide Blog — technical breakdown of the slide:
https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2...
Earth Magazine — Benchmarks: the Vajont landslide:
https://www.earthmagazine.org/article...
Rachel Carson Center — Expecting Disaster: the 1963 landslide:
https://www.environmentandsociety.org...
Casualty figures vary by source. The court record lists 1,910 dead; most
histories cite around 2,000; some geological surveys estimate up to 2,500.
Downstream Dead investigates the dams, reservoirs and floods that killed
thousands, and the people who let it happen. Subscribe for a new case
every week.
#vajont #damfailure #engineeringdisaster #documentary #history
What a shame how war tarnishes reputations of countries, some 80+ years here. And countries that no longer exist. Many Countries have their borders drawn by "war winners" continents away. The worst offended is that Fat Man and Little Boy were used on Japan to "win WW2." They were used in combat to show the Soviets who had a bigger dick. WW2 never truly ended. It simply evolved into the Cold War on one July morning, 5:30 AM, in a New Mexico desert with a project called "Trinity" and a little radioactive girl named "Gadget."
The Cold War's hot fires still rage today. Not just a military and scientific race between US vs Russia, but everyone vs everyone, competeing over everything, on every inch of the globe.