A megatsunami is a very large wave created by a large, sudden displacement of material into a body of water.
Antonio Segni was an Italian politician and statesman who served as the president of Italy from May 1962 to December 1964, and as the prime minister of Italy in two distinct terms between 1955 and 1960.
Mariano Rumor was an Italian politician and statesman. A member of the Christian Democracy (DC), he served as the 39th prime minister of Italy from December 1968 to August 1970 and again from July 1973 to November 1974. As prime minister, he led five different governments, supported by various coalitions.
The Vajont Dam or Vaiont Dam is a disused hydro-electric dam in northern Italy. It is one of the tallest dams in the world, with a height of 262 m (860 ft). It is in the valley of the Vajont (river) under Monte Toc, in the municipality of Erto e Casso, 100 km (62 mi) north of Venice.
In geomorphology, an outburst flood—a type of megaflood—is a high-magnitude, low-frequency catastrophic flood involving the sudden release of a large quantity of water. During the last deglaciation, numerous glacial lake outburst floods were caused by the collapse of either ice sheets or glaciers that formed the dams of proglacial lakes. Examples of older outburst floods are known from the geological past of the Earth and inferred from geomorphological evidence on Mars. Landslides, lahars, and volcanic dams can also block rivers and create lakes, which trigger such floods when the rock or earthen barrier collapses or is eroded. Lakes also form behind glacial moraines or ice dams, which can collapse and create outburst floods.
Giovanni Leone was an Italian politician, jurist and university professor. A founding member of Christian Democracy (DC), Leone served as the president of Italy from December 1971 until June 1978. He also briefly served as Prime Minister of Italy from June to December 1963 and again from June to December 1968. He was also the president of the Chamber of Deputies from May 1955 until June 1963.
The Malpasset Dam was an arch dam on the Reyran River, north of Fréjus on the French Riviera. It collapsed on 2 December 1959, killing 423 people in the resulting flood. The breach was caused by a tectonic fault in the impermeable rock base, which had been inadequately surveyed. Nearby road-building works, using explosives, may also have contributed to the disaster.
The Val di Stava Dam collapse occurred on 19 July 1985, when two tailings dams above the village of Stava, near Tesero, Italy, failed. It resulted in one of Italy's worst disasters, killing 268 people, destroying 63 buildings and demolishing eight bridges.
Cles is a town and comune in Trentino, in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region of northern Italy. It is the main town of Val di Non.
The Fucine Lake was a large endorheic karst lake between 650 and 680 m above sea level and surrounded by the Monte Sirente-Monte Velino mountain ranges to the north-northeast, Mount Salviano to the west, Vallelonga to the south, and the Valle del Giovenco to the east-southeast. Located in western Abruzzo in central Italy, the town of Avezzano lies to the northwest, Ortucchio to the southeast, and Trasacco to the southwest of the historic lake. Once the third largest lake in Italy after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore, it was finally drained in 1878.
Castellavazzo is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Belluno in the Italian region of Veneto, located about 90 kilometres (56 mi) north of Venice and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Belluno. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,735 and an area of 18.8 square kilometres (7.3 sq mi).
Erto e Casso is a comune (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Pordenone in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 130 kilometres (81 mi) northwest of Trieste and about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Pordenone.
The 1693 Sicily earthquake struck parts of southern Italy near Sicily, then a territory part of the Crown of Aragon by the Kings of Spain Calabria, and Malta on 11 January at around 21:00 local time. This earthquake was preceded by a damaging foreshock on 9 January. The main quake had an estimated magnitude of 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, the most powerful in Italian recorded history, and a maximum intensity of XI (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale, destroying at least 70 towns and cities, seriously affecting an area of 5,600 square kilometres (2,200 sq mi) and causing the death of about 60,000 people.
The Val di Chiana, Valdichiana, or Chiana Valley, formerly Clanis Valley, is a tectonic valley of central Italy, whose valley floor consists of important alluvial residues filled up since the 11th century, lying on the territories of the provinces of Arezzo and Siena in Tuscany and the provinces of Perugia and Terni in Umbria.
Lago del Barbellino is the largest artificial lake in the Province of Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. It is located in Valbondione among the Bergamasque Alps. The reservoir contains 18.5 million cubic metres of water. In 1931 a dam was built to supply hydroelectric power to the Seriana Valley where the textile industry was rapidly developing.
Vajont is a 2001 Italian disaster film directed by Renzo Martinelli. It is a dramatization of the Vajont Dam tsunami. For his performance Leo Gullotta won a Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actor.
The Maè is the main watercourse along the val di Zoldo, in Belluno, Italian Eastern Alps. It is a right tributary of the Piave. The valley is also called the Valle del Maè along Soffranco and Longarone. The Mae Valley near Forno di Zoldo is the site of the Piave–Boite–Vaiont hydroelectric system.
The Tunnels of Claudius consist principally of a 6 km-long tunnel together with several monumental service tunnels which Roman Emperor Claudius had built by 52 AD to partially drain the Fucine Lake in Abruzzo, protecting riparian villages from floods and creating agricultural land. It was a massive engineering project involving 30,000 workmen and slaves who completed it in just 11 years, and considered among the grandest in antiquity. It was the longest tunnel ever built until the inauguration of the Fréjus Rail Tunnel in 1871.
Carlo Semenza was an Italian hydraulic engineer and mountaineer, considered one of the most experienced designers and manufacturers of dams in the era.
The Vajont is a 34 km long torrent in the Northern Italian Province of Pordenone flowing from Friuli-Venezia Giulia to eastern Veneto. The stream has carved a narrow gorge over time, known as Vajont valley or Valle del Vajont.
