Vajont - La diga del disonore

On October 9th, 1963, at 10:39 pm, 260 million cubic meters of rock fell down from Mount Toc into the artificial lake formed by the Vajont dam, one of the the higher dams in the world. The landslide formed a 250-meter high wave and 50 million cubic meters of water destroyed the majority the houses of the town (Longarone) below, killing almost 2000 people. Planned by engineer Semenza, Vajont dam (262 meters) had to supply the electricity in all the houses of the region. Tina Merlin, a journalist from "L'Unitá", tried for years to denounce the danger to build a dam under Mount Toc; she especially denounced all the omissions by the corrupted politicians and builders in charge of the dam construction. They preferred to trust in old geologist Dal Piaz instead of listening to engineer Semenza young son's alarming analysis. No one seemed to understand the high danger until that October fatal night. —Francesco