#pirago

The deep gorge of the Vajont river is in fact a known geologically unstable area with a long history of landslides and sorrounded by mountains with poor structural integrity. Despite all the warnings and repeated signs of instability and after many unfavorable forecasts based on simulations, the dam's basin was filled beyond security level.

In the night of 9th October 1963 a ginormous landslide 2km wide made of 260 millions m3 of rocks and dirt fell from Mount Toc speeding down at over 100km/h.

Almost the entire side of the mountain came down to completely fill the basin, generating a seismic shock and a megatsunami. A wave 250m tall leapt over the dam and 50 millions m3 of water rushed into the valley below devasting everything in its path with a display of energy equatable to twice the nuclear blast of Hiroshima and originating an impact crater 60m deep and 80m wide.

The dam and its basin after the landslide.

The towns of Longarone, Pirago, Rivalta, Villanova and Faè, in the Piave Valley below, were totally obliterated.

Almost 2000 people were killed, many of them have never been identified. And 1300 more have never been found.

The towns of Pirago and Longarone after the disaster.

The dam's site manager, engineer Mario Pancini, overcome by guilt took his own life two months later. After much debate over the predictability of the tragedy only two people, project engineer Alberico Biadene and Francesco Sensidoni of the Department of Public Works, were found guilty and sentenced, respectively, to 5 years and 3 years and 8 months in prison.

In 2000 Montedison (who in the meantime had acquired electric society SADE, owner of the dam), ENEL (italian multinational and public manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas), and the Italian State were ordered to jointly compensate the town of Longarone for 55.645.758.500 lire (about 28 millions euros).

The Vajont Dam today

The Vajont Dam disaster was declared by the UN one of the worst man-made disasters in history.

What's really flabbergasting is that the dam survived the catastrophe almost completely unscated and it's still considered today a masterpiece of engineering.

A masterpiece built in the wrong place and a perennial warning against human kind's greed and delusion of omnipotence.