Accidents and economic damage due to snow avalanches and landslides
Abstract — Snow avalanches have caused many catastrophic accidents and severe economical losses in Iceland since the country was settled in the ninth century. The first reported avalanche accident dates back to 1118 when a snow avalanche killed 5 people in western Iceland. Altogether about 680 death...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.368.5259 http://www.vedur.is/gogn/snjoflod/haettumat/jokull-2001.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract — Snow avalanches have caused many catastrophic accidents and severe economical losses in Iceland since the country was settled in the ninth century. The first reported avalanche accident dates back to 1118 when a snow avalanche killed 5 people in western Iceland. Altogether about 680 deaths by avalanches have been reported in Iceland since then. Unaccounted deaths may be assumed to have been several hundreds, especially during two gaps a total of 250 years in the written records before 1600. Since 1901 altogether 193 persons have been killed in avalanche and landslide accidents in Iceland. Catastrophic avalanches in the villages Súðavík and Flateyri in 1995, which killed 34 people and caused extensive economic damage, have totally changed the view regarding avalanche safety in Iceland. These avalanches made it clear that a substantial number of people in several Icelandic towns and villages live in areas where avalanche risk is unacceptable. Although extensive evacuations may be used to reduce the risk to some extent, this can only be viewed as a temporary measure. Avalanche protection measures or land use changes are necessary for a permanent solution to this problem. Direct economic loss due to avalanches and landslides in Iceland in the 26 year period between 1974 and 2000 is about 3.3 billion IKR (41 million USD). The total cost of defence structures, which have been constructed or are under construction in the towns Flateyri, Siglufjörður and Neskaupstaður since 1995, together with the cost of relocation in endangered areas is about 2.5 billion IKR (31 million USD). The |
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