Jökull - 01.01.2001, Page 85

Accidents and economic damage due to snow avalanches and landslides in Iceland
1995, 1996; Pétursson and Jónsdóttir, 2000a,b). Of
these people, 113 were killed in buildings, at work
sites or within towns, and 80 were killed on roads or
traveling in backcountry areas. The majority of the
fatalities were caused by snow avalanches and slush
flows, but a total of 27 of the above mentioned fatali-
ties were caused by landslides (including debris flows
and rock falls) as summarised in Table 1.
Table 1. Fatal accidents in avalanches and landslides
1901–2000. – Dauðsföll af völdum snjóflóða og skriðu-
falla 1901–2000.
Populated Unpopulated
areas areas
Total
Avalanches 107 59 166
Landslides 6 21 27
Total 113 80 193
Since the catastrophic avalanches in Neskaup-
staður in 1974, altogether 69 people have been killed
in avalanches, slush flows and landslides as sum-
marised in Table 2. Of these people, 52 were killed
in buildings, at work sites or within towns, and 17
were killed on roads or traveling in backcountry ar-
eas. Rock falls caused 3 of the fatalities during this
period.
Table 2. Fatal accidents in avalanches and landslides
1974–2000. – Dauðsföll af völdum snjóflóða og skriðu-
falla 1974–2000.
Populated Unpopulated
areas areas
Total
Avalanches 52 14 66
Landslides 0 3 3
Total 52 17 69
Figures 4 and 5 show the number of fatalities in
snow avalanche accidents in the last 200 years for
populated areas and for unpopulated areas, respec-
tively, grouped into 25 year intervals. The number
of fatal accidents in unpopulated areas had a steady
downward trend from the period 1826–1850 until
1951–1975, but in the period 1976–2000 the accidents
seem to start becoming more frequent again. The ini-
tial decline reflects improving climate conditions, a
reduction in sheep farming in avalanche prone areas
and improved transportation facilities that reduced the
need for winter travel in the mountains. The rise in
the last period reflects increased tourism and winter
travel in remote backcountry areas. The number of
fatal accidents in populated areas is relatively low in
the favourable climatic conditions during the period
1926–1975, but there is a sharp increase in the period
1976–2000, mainly due to the catastrophic accidents
in 1995.
Figure 4. Fatal avalanche accidents in populated areas
in Iceland in the period 1801–2000. The numbers
include accidents in town and villages and on farms.
– Dauðsföll af völdum snjóflóða í byggð (heimili,
vinnustaðir og opin svæði í þéttbýli) á Íslandi á
tímabilinu 1801–2000.
Table 2 shows that since 1974 about 3 times as
many people have been killed in avalanche accidents
in populated areas compared with unpopulated areas.
This ratio is very high compared with other coun-
tries in Europe with avalanche problems (McClung
and Schaerer, 1993; Tschirky et al., 2000) and reflects
the dangerous location of many villages that are situ-
ated in avalanche prone areas in Iceland. Table 3 lists
the date and location of fatal avalanches hitting towns
and farm buildings in Iceland since 1974.
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