Gondo landslide: 20 years later
20 years ago, on 14th October 2000, after three days of rain and fog, a landslide of 10’000 cubic meters fell on the village of Gondo, situated on the Swiss-Italian border, causing 13 deaths and much damage to the village. The power of the mass destroyed the protective wall, which had been built to protect the village from landslides. Three boulders of about 600 cubic meters each actually went over the wall, with one of them reaching the village. These and the landslide devastated approximately one third of the village (10 dwellings were destroyed).
An alarm was immediately raised and a protection plan, to which the civil protection, the police and the army contributed, was set up. The roads were blocked because of one of the boulders, thus completely isolating Gondo for a few days. The railway station of Iselle, a village at the foot of the Simplon, was closed due to flooding while the railway network was also interrupted. Due to the heavy rainfall, helicopter operations were also blocked. After a few hours, guides, search and rescue dogs, fire brigades and medics reached Gondo to understand what happened and bring relief to the inhabitants.
Today, 20 years later, the events of Gondo can be seen as a symbol for Switzerland and the solidarity of its citizens. in the year 2000, 74 million Swiss francs were raised by the Swiss Solidarity Chain, and one sixth of the money was donated to the municipality of Gondo to repair the damages dealt by the disaster. The other part of the sum was used for other disasters caused by the October 2000 weather situation in Switzerland (in particular in Valais and Ticino).
Unfortunately, like many mountain villages, Gondo’s population is steadily decreasing, but its importance remains on many fronts. Indeed, it is a starting point for mountaineering and the October 2000 landslide remains one of the most studied catastrophic events in Switzerland. Since 2002, a marathon has been organised every year in memory of the inhabitants of Gondo who lost their lives in October 2000. In addition, Gondo has had an unprecedented amount of media coverage, which has helped the village to gain notoriety and external help to revive itself and look to the future. Today, the village of Gondo is completely rebuilt: the community work was sanctified on 14 October 2004 and handed over to the population..
Source:
- www.blog.allertswiss.ch
- www.gondo.ch
- www.big.admin.ch
