The Erto e Casso Visitor's Center (Pordenone) is located in the village of Erto in its former elementary school building.

This Visitor's Center offers one of the most significant and complete documentation centers on the Vajont Catastrophe and provides a valid point of reference for study and research.

Section I  “Vajont: photographs and memories” hosts a collection of original photographs.

The visitor is taken back in time in discovery of the traditions, customs and costumes of the inhabitants of the Vajont area before the tragic event that occurred on the evening of October 9, 1963, when an enormous land mass detached from Monte Toc and slid into the artificial lake to create a monstrous wave that swept away 2000 men, women and children.

Section II: “Dedicated to the Memory” provides a detailed and scientific rendering of the event's complete story, from the engineering of the "Great Vajont Hydroelectric Basin" to the criminal and civil trials held at the end. Descriptive panels provide greater clarity, while plastic models, charts, and tables can be consulted for better comprehension of the nature of the tragedy.

A CD-rom projected in the multi-media screening room provides a global view of the catastrophe with a graphic reconstruction of the landslide and original footage.

The Double CD-rom is also available for purchase at Park Information Offices or by ordering online (acquista) (purchase).

The Vajont Catastrophe – Dedicated to the Memory

The Visitor's Center provides the visitor with an area dedicated to the memory of the Catastrophe that occurred on October 9, 1963.

The valley's natural environment was overwhelmed and the local community suffered:

·         death and ruin;

·         scandalous management of the risk both before the event (blind optimism) and after (excessive prudence);

·         inefficient management of both the emergency situation created immediately after the landslide and the following reconstruction.

For the following decades, the remaining community was exiled from the valley, deprived of its economy and driven to the fracture of its original unity.

A third of a century passed before the judicial authorities finally passed the sentences described below.

• Una testimonianza
  
  
• Note sulla frana del Monte Toc
  
  
• Aspetti naturalistici e tecnici sulla frana e sulla Diga del Vajont
  
  
• Scheda Sentiero Moliesa (file pdf)

Vajont Catastrophe - "Dedicated to the Memory"

EXHIBIT SECTION I

“BEFORE IMPACT”

At the end of the 1950's the local community depended primarily on a traditional agricultural economy supplemented by small-scale itinerant trade.

The SADE company considered the narrow Vajont ravine as a good place for the creation of an artificial lake.

A double arch dam was built to a height of 265 meters, the world's highest at the time.

In 1960, as the valley was being filled with water, two landslides occurred.

The two-million square meter unstable slope was monitored

A precise diagram was prepared that unequivocally linked the rising level of the presently-forming lake with the increased shifting of the surrounding land mass.

In the month of October, 1963, the possibility of a truly massive landslide appeared imminent but adequate measures for the protection of the population were not taken.

EXHIBIT SECTION II

"IMPACT"

On October 9, 1963, 300 million cubic meters of land slid into the lake in just 40 seconds at the terrifying speed of 65 km/hour.

The sudden entry of this mass of rock and soil into the lake moved 48 million cubic meters of water as follows:

·         creating a wave 80 meters high on the surface of the lake that swept away the settlements along the shores;

·         creating a wave 170 meters high that leaped over the top of the dam and plunged from a height of 400 meters down into the valley, violently sweeping away the settlements below.

EXHIBIT SECTION III

"EMERGENCY AND RECONSTRUCTION"

After the disaster, the monitoring of the lake's level was discontinued, and in light of valley's desolation after the event, the authorities over-estimated the future risk.

The evacuation of the entire population was ordered.

Even after the artificial lake was entirely drained three years later, the former inhabitants were ordered to remain in exile.

This divided the community into those willing to move as ordered  and those who claimed the right to return to their former lands.

In the wake of bitter controversy, the community was officially divided in 1971 with the establishment of the new Municipality of Vajont.

The Reconstruction Plan was applied to an area 22 times larger than the area damaged and even “forgot” the Vajont valley itself.

Apart from restoring the road around the lake's right shore, the only effect of the Plan was the evacuation of Old Erto for the creation of a new village slightly higher up on the hillside.

No other reconstruction operation was performed in the valley, and the valley's entire left slope is still impassable due to the detritus yet to be removed.

SECTION IV

"JUSTICE"

Criminal suit

The criminal suit was locked up in court for more than 8 years:

·         11 defendants were summoned to trial;

·         in the Court of First Instance, the Public Prosecutor petitioned a sentence of a total 158 years of imprisonment;

·         The judge ruled in the sentence that "…landslide in itself is not a crime...” and found 3 of the defendants guilty of merely not providing sufficient alarm in a sentence for a combined total of 12 years of imprisonment;

·         The Court of Appeals sentenced 3 defendants to 12 years of imprisonment for not providing sufficient alarm; 

·         Again in Court of Appeals, the sentence was reduced to a total of 4 years and 6 months of imprisonment;

·         in Court of Cassation, the number of parties deemed responsible was raised, and in this way only 2 of the former 3 defendants were sentenced to a combined total of just 2 years and 8 months of imprisonment.

Civil suit

The civil suit was filed initially by the Municipality of Erto e Casso and continued by the newly-formed Municipality of Vajont against ENEL - the National Electricity Board.

In 2000, 37 years after the catastrophe, the final sentence required ENEL to pay damages amounting to 6.109.685 Euro.