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The Vajont Dam Disaster
🕑 Added 2022-12-06 11:15:59 +0000 UTCWhile researching this video, I came across some interesting errata about the way this disaster is remembered.
The grave markers
In the video I showed an image of the graveyard where many of the victims of this disaster are buried. There is some controversy surrounding this place, which you can read about in this BBC article.
Basically, the graveyard used to be a jumble of different grave markers, each of which was personal and specific to a family who had lost a loved one. Around 2010 the local authority received some funds to "improve" the area, and spent it making the uniform, neat, clean rows of grave markers that stand today.
In this new graveyard flowers and photographs are banned... and the markers don't correspond to the people who are buried underneath. Understandably, the people who come to the graveyard to visit loved ones don't think these changes are an improvement!
The Vajont walk
This disaster is memorialised in one of the most interesting and unusual ways I've seen for any disaster I've covered. Each year there is a memorial walk/run that passes along the top of the dam, through some of the tunnels and spaces lower down, and visits some areas that were devastated by the flood.
It's a truly unique way to ensure that the memory of this event doesn't fade. Though some people do jog or run the route, it's non-competitive, and is intended to keep ancient pathways alive and allow time for reflection.
You can find out a little more about it on the website, here. Participating in the run is also one of the only ways to visit the lower caverns and tunnels around the dam, which are out of bounds for the rest of the year.
As someone who used to run a lot, I can't help but be intrigued. Perhaps if I ever get back in shape a visit might be possible.
Comments
Fascinating Horror
It's on the list - one that I've been meaning to cover for a while. I think there was a recent new investigation; will have to take a look and see what that uncovered
Fascinating Horror
Thank you! And, yes, you're right. It seems almost as though they wanted to make it "cleaner" and "neater", but in doing so they stripped away many of the things that make it worthwhile to the people who visit
Jennifer Durham
Very good presentation. I’ve seen other pieces on this disaster, but they didn’t feature any words from a survivor, and I appreciate the link to the BBC article. The description of what they did to the cemetery was chilling. The original memorials should have been left alone. They stripped it of all the touches that connect visitors to the individuality the victims deserve.
Michael Rutherford
Whoops. Didn't mean to delete that other comment. Just meant to do a quick grammar edit. Anyway, how about a video on the Sinking of the MS Estonia?
