Essay Example on Vajont Dam: A Giant With Devastating Powers

Introduction

In 1959m a dam named Vajont was completed in Italy. Its exact location is in the valley of the river of Vajont. With 860 ft height, 89 ft width, 72 ft thickness and 627 ft wide base, this dam is considered as one of the tallest dams of the world (Paronuzzi & Bolla, 2013). However, this giant dam proved to be a giant in the real sense of the word on the 9th day of October in 1963 when it led to a massive flood that caused massive destruction of human beings as well as the localities. The areas of Longarone, Pirago, Rivalta, and Villanova were the victims of the massive destructions (Paronuzzi & Bolla, 2013). It should be understood that this is manmade disaster that occurred as a result of human activity. For instance, it was depicted that there existed a man a man-made mega tsunami that was so disastrous. Notably, the construction company that initiated this dam also did disregard the geological warning a fact that made it possible for the occurrence of the event.

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Cause of Vjont Dam Flood

Before the disaster of Vjont Dam flood, a few landslide events were reported in Italy in 1960. These landslide events cause minor casualties which the Government of Italy severely ignored. Surprisingly the landslide where the flood erupted was already predicted by the geologists and the experts. On the disastrous day of the flood, the events of rolling rocks and falling trees were noted on the site (Paronuzzi & Bolla, 2013). On the same day, an estimated figure of around two hundred and sixty thousand cubic meters of debris fell into the dam. This debris consisted of the rocks, trees, and stones on the earth.

The real causes of this disaster were subject to controversies as it was manmade damage and a lot of political stakeholders were involved in its base. For a long time, the blame game continued where the ministers and representatives from different parties kept on accusing each other of the responsibility of this catastrophe (Paronuzzi & Bolla, 2013).

The intensity of the hurricane

The landslide material is reported to have fallen in the reservoir at the speed of 68 miles per hour which is a tremendous speed and caused around two hundred and sixty thousand cubic meters of material into it (Dykes, 2018).

Damages Caused

As a result of this flood, around 2000 people have been reported to have died, and a lot of infrastructural damages took place due to this. Thousands of survivors were extracted from the area as a result of the aerial operation involving several helicopters (Paronuzzi & Bolla, 2013). The whole area was evacuated, and the rescue operations began.

Conclusion

The flood of Vjont Dam is considered a human folly because of the negligence that was shown by the authorities after so many landslide events were reported during that tenure. After the flood caused huge and massive damage, the authorities kept on blaming each other and made it a political problem. The dam which was considered to be among the world's tallest dams took the lives of thousands of people and vanished so many villages from the face of the earth. It was evident that this dam was a constructed feature by a given firm and hence the disaster was man made. Indeed, the flood did caused massive loss of lives for those that were living near the dam. Around 2000 people have been reported to have died, and a lot of infrastructural damages took place due to this.

References

Dykes, A.P., and Bromhead, E.N., (2018). The Vaiont landslide: re-assessment of the evidence leads to rejection of the consensus: Landslides, v. 15, no. 9, p. 1815-1832, doi: 10.1007/s10346-018-0996-y.

Paronuzzi, P., and Bolla, A., (2013). A New Interpretation of the Geotechnical Context of the Vajont Rockslide: Landslide Science and Practice, p. 123-131, doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-31319-6_18.