The Natural Hazards Day - report

2018-10-10

Workshop remembering the Vajont Dam disaster

The Natural Hazards Day took place 55 years after the Vajont Dam disaster, one of the most catastrophic disasters in Europe (above 2000 fatalities).

The event was co-organized by the Department of Earth Sciences and the Centre of Natural Hazards and Disaster Science (CNDS), and it was highly attended with a total of more than 50 participants. The workshop focused on multi-hazards, compound events and cascading effects, which are gaining increasing attention in the natural hazards community.

After some welcoming words and a brief introduction by Giuliano Di Baldassarre (CNDS director), two invited speakers delivered solicited talks. Luigia Brandimarte (KTH) presented the cascade of human and physical factors that characterized the Vajont Dam disaster. Her presentation was followed by a talk by Patrick Bachélery (Clermont Auvergne University, France) about volcanic hazards and cascading effects in France and its overseas territories.

Luigia Brandimarte

Patrick Bachélery

The second part of the workshop was dedicated to early career scientists. Paolo De Luca (Loughborough University, UK) illustrated the interdependencies between floods, storms and droughts in Great Britain, while Marleen de Ruiter (VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands) showed how consecutive disasters (e.g. flooding after an earthquake) affect losses and the post-disaster recovery process. Lastly, two recently recruited postdocs at the Department of Earth Sciences concluded the workshop. Maurizio Mazzoleni presented cascading effects linked with levee failures, Braden Walsh showed the use of active source data to determine the dynamics of the 13 October 2012 Te Maari, New Zealand breakout lahar and its implications on mass flow monitoring.

The workshop was concluded with some words about the increasing relevance of multi-hazards, compound events and cascading effects and mingling during refreshments.

text and photo:

Giuliano Di Baldassarre