3 ms·
That and other risks. There's the 1963 Vajont Dam collapse in northern Italy (just south of the Swiss border). Nutshell summary: one of the tallest dams ever
by dredmorbius 29d ago
That and other risks.
There's the 1963 Vajont Dam collapse in northern Italy (just south of the Swiss border).
Nutshell summary: one of the tallest dams ever built (262m / 860ft) created a reservoir in a high valley surrounded by the sedimantary limestone slopes of Mounte Toc. Layers of limestone were separated by clay a few cm thick. As the reservoir filled, the clay was hydrated, effectively becoming a lubrication layer. On 9 October 1963 a 2km long landslide of roughly 260 million m^3 slammed at 110 kph into the reservoir creating a tsunami of 115 million m^3 of water which overtopped the dam itself in a 250m high wave. The primary impact was downstream in the Piave Valley utterly destroying several villages and towns, with 1,900--2,500 deaths. (Other waves washed across the reservoir and upstream causing additional damage.)
There's a detailed Wikipedia article: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajont_Dam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajont_Dam>.
Also several good videos detailing the specifics of the disaster on YouTube.
Generally the Alps are at a far lesser scale than the Himalaya, but yes, glacier, flood, and landslide risks exist.