>>>ANSA/Italy marks 60th anniversary of Vajont dam disaster

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 9 - Italy on Monday marked the 60th anniversary of the Vajont dam disaster in which almost 2,000 people lost their lives.
    "The tragedy that took place here carries the weight of grave human responsibility, of very bad choices denounced by attentive people even before the disaster occurred," said President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella at a commemoration at the dam where on in the night of October 9, 1963, a landslide fell from Mount Toc above the reservoir into the basin, triggering a huge wave that destroyed the lakeside towns of Erto and Casso before passing over the crown of the dam and sweeping through the town of Longarone in the valley below. Officially 1,910 people including 487 minors under the age of 15 died in the disaster, which was preceded by numerous warnings of impending danger that were largely ignored.
    "We are here to commemorate people, those who died on October 9, 1963, the survivors, those who had to leave their homes and those who struggled strenuously to rebuild them, to remain here," said Mattarella, speaking of the "silent monuments to the victims, those buried in the cemeteries, those buried forever in the riverbeds, on the mountainsides: women, men, children. Five hundred children".
    "Sixty years on, our consciences, continue to be disturbed and challenged by these torments," he added.
    The president cited the recent testimony for General Giampaolo Agosto, in 1963 a young officer in the Sixth Mountain Artillery Regiment who intervened with his men in the hours immediately after the tragedy, who recalled how in the face of so much horror, his soldiers had an empty look in their eyes.
    "Let us strive, today, to imagine ourselves mirrored first of all in the eyes of those who are no longer here; who, when the Alpine troops arrived, were no longer there. In the eyes of the rescuers. In the stern looks of the survivors. In the eyes of those who are here today, custodians of these territories.
    In this way, "we can say that the Republic has not forgotten," he concluded.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni also remembered the tragedy in a message on social media.
    "Today we remember the tragic Vajont disaster, a deep wound in our history. Almost 2,000 people were killed, entire villages were swept away," said Meloni.
    "It is a tragedy that could and should have been avoided," she added.
    "60 years on, the memory of Vajont remains an admonition for us all. We must not forget the cost of human irresponsibility on that terrible night of 9 October 1963 to a community that was fully aware of the risks, but was not listened to," continued Meloni.
    "In memory of that terrible tragedy, we are committed to ensuring that similar events are never repeated in our country.
    "In memory of the Vajont victims, we will continue to work for a safer Italy," she said.
    The inhabitants of Longarone and other villages in the Piave valley below the Vajont dam on the border of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia had just four minutes to try to find safety after the landslide on Mount Toc, which locals call 'the walking mountain' due to its tendency to experience landslides.
    "For us it was like the end of the world. An event such as that cannot be described. Only those who were there can understand," said Italo Filippin, 79, the former mayor of Erto and Casso.
    "Only at dawn did we understand what had happened," he added.
    (ANSA).