The Vajont Dam (or Vaiont Dam) is a disused dam, completed in 1959 in the valley of the Vajont River (it) under Monte Toc, 100 km north of Venice, Italy. A 1963 landslide caused the overtopping of the dam and around 2,000 deaths.
One of the tallest dams in the world, it is 262 m (860 ft) high, 27 m (89 ft) thick at the base and 3.4 m (11 ft) at the top. Its 1963 overtopping was caused when the designers ignored the geological instability of Monte Toc on the southern side of the basin. Warning signs and negative appraisals during the early stages of filling were disregarded, and the attempt to safely control the landslide into the lake created a 200 metre tall wave (ten times higher than predicted) that brought massive flooding and destruction to the Piave valley below, wiping out several villages completely.
On 12 February 2008, while launching the International Year of Planet Earth, UNESCO cited the Vajont Dam tragedy as one of five "cautionary tales", caused by "the failure of engineers and geologists".
Read more about Vajont Dam: Construction, Early Signs of Disaster, Landslide and Wave, Causes and Responsibilities, Reconstruction, In The Media, Images At The Italian Wikipedia
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