International Symposium on Mitigative Measures against Snow ...

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6 <strong>International</strong> <strong>Symposium</strong> on Mitigative Measures against Snow Avalanches Egilsstaðir, Iceland, March 11–14, 2008
FOREWORD <strong>International</strong> <strong>Symposium</strong> on Mitigative Measures against Snow Avalanches Egilsstaðir, Iceland, March 11–14, 2008 Mitigative measures against snow avalanches have been built for many decades and even centuries in various places of the world. Improved knowledge and better equipment have, in recent times, made it possible to build considerably larger and more complicated structures than earlier. The aim of the measures is usually to protect human lives or infrastructures, such as roads and communication lines, but they do also affect humans in many other ways. Large structures usually have a significant impact on the environment, either at the starting zone of avalanches or in the run-out zone. In many cases, the run-out zone structures have to be built close to dense settlements; they can be overwhelming and they can even affect the local climate as well as snow accumulation close to the structures. Relocation of settlements implies many hard decisions when people are forced to evacuate their old homes to move to a new area. A question that needs to be answered in this connection is why to destroy an already built-up area rather than protect it? The value of endangered buildings is also often questioned. How do protective measures affect the daily life of people? Do people believe in the measures and do they feel safe living close to them? What effect do protective measures have on the value of protected buildings and what effect will they have on the future development of the area? Does bad avalanche reputation have an effect on society and future development of the settlement? Travel has increased enormously in the last years and the demand for safe transport has been put at the top of the priority list all over the world. Avalanches pose a serious threat to highways and rail traffic in mountainous areas and many travellers are killed in avalanche accidents every year. Traffic delays and detours also cause large financial losses every year. Electricity is becoming more and more important in modern society and any disturbance has a large effect on the daily life of people. The end user of a power plant can be an aluminium smelter, which uses an enormous amount of electricity compared with a family home. The effect of an electrical disturbance can be very different for different customers; a disturbance may have unforeseen consequences for the smelter but minor for the small home. Transmission lines are not easily repaired during avalanche cycles! The symposium addresses three different themes; Snow-engineering, Environment and Society. The goal is to introduce the present state of knowledge and get a glimpse of the future as well as try to broaden the view of participants from each group, make them exchange experience and ideas and find ways to cooperate so that we can improve living in areas threatened by avalanches. Now, thirteen years after the disastrous avalanches in Súðavík and Flateyri, the avalanche awareness and avalanche knowledge has increased dramatically in Iceland. Protective measures have been built at several locations and intensive monitoring of avalanche danger for villages has been established. In the light of this we thought this would be the right time to share what we have learned but also to listen to what others are doing and learn from it. Eastern Iceland has several avalanche prone villages, power lines and highways. On December 20 th 1974, two avalanches struck Neskaupstaður, the largest village in eastern Iceland, within a short interval. Those two avalanches took 12 lives. In 1982, avalanches hit a fish factory in Seyðisfjörður without any life lost and avalanches affect the road network the area quite frequently. The new power line from the Fljótsdalur power plant to the Alcoa aluminum smelter in Reyðarfjörður is probably one of its kinds in the world with 82 towers especially reinforced to withstand avalanche impacts. More than 50 researchers from 7 countries have registered and about 40 scientific presentations will be delivered. The workshop is held during 3 days with an intermediate one-day excursion. The workshop is sponsored by The Association of Chartered Engineers in Iceland and The Icelandic Society of Engineers and co-sponsored by the Ministry for the Environment, the Icelandic Meteorological Office, the National Planning Agency, IceGrid, the Icelandic Road Administration, the Inter- 7
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Guðmundur Heiðreksson Int
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Sponsored by: • The Association o
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