Dam Failure: food for the opposition
Over 100 years ago, a catastrophic dam failure caused
thousands of deaths and wiped out a town. Before the failure:
and after:
And where could this have happened? Who lives near Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania? Well, this dam failure occurred just over 2 hours west of
Harrisburg, in Johnstown, PA.
source: Johnstown Area Heritage Association
Web Site (#)
A little more recently... in 1928, the failure of the St. Francis Dam, near
Los Angeles, California, killed hundreds of people. Here are the before and
after shots.
Only 200 feet of the center section was left after the flood!
How would you like to live through that situation and see if you
can stop a disaster? Try the
St.
Francis Dam Flood Simulation (#).
source:
Educational Technology Department,
San Diego State University (#)
Dam failure is one reason that people are opposed to dams -- a number of dams
have failed recently as well. Overall, the incidence of
dam failures is low. But there are a number
of other reasons that people are opposed to dams.
On March 11, 1997 the First International Conference of
Dam-Affected People was held. How had dams affected them?
Why else are people opposed to dams?
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