Vajont Dam

Vajont Dam is a dam completed in 1961. On October 9, 1963 at approximately 10:35pm, heavy rains triggered an enormous landslide of about 260 million cubic metres of forest, earth, and rock, which fell into the reservoir at up to 110 km per hour (68 mph). The resulting displacement of water caused 50 million cubic metres of water to overtop the dam in a 250-metre high wave. Despite this, the dam's structure was largely undamaged — the top metre or so of masonry was washed away, but the basic structure remained intact. However, the flooding caused by the landslide destroyed the villages of Longarone, Pirago, Rivalta, Villanova and Faè, killing 1,450 people. Many small villages in the territory of Erto e Casso and the village of Codissago, near Castellavazzo, were largely wrecked. Almost 2,000 people (some sources report 1,909) perished in total. Damage was also caused by the air displacement caused from the immense "splash" in surrounding villages.


In 2001, a movie was released about the Vajont disaster, "Vajont, La diga del disonore" (Italy) or "La folie des hommes" (France), starring Michel Serrault and Daniel Auteuil.

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