Jökull


Jökull - 01.01.2001, Page 86

Jökull - 01.01.2001, Page 86
Tómas Jóhannesson and Þorsteinn Arnalds Figure 5. Fatal avalanche accidents in unpopulated areas in Iceland in the period 1801–2000. The numbers include accidents on rural roads and in the mountains. – Dauðsföll af völdum snjóflóða utan byggðar á Íslandi á tímabilinu 1801–2000. Um er að ræða slys á þjóðvegum og í óbyggðum. Table 3. Recent fatal avalanche accidents in populated areas. – Dauðaslys af völdum snjóflóða á byggð á nýliðnum áratugum. Date Location Fatalities 20-12-1974 Neskaupstaður 12 22-01-1983 Patreksfjörður 4 04-05-1994 Tungudalur, Skutulsfirði 1 16-01-1995 Súðavík 14 18-01-1995 Grund, Reykhólahreppi 1 26-10-1995 Flateyri 20 Total 52 The number of deaths in avalanche accidents in the 26 year period between 1974 and 2000 may not be representative of the current avalanche risk in Ice- land because catastrophic accidents occurred near the beginning and end of the time period. One must, however, note that a considerable number of residen- tial buildings have been built in avalanche hazard ar- eas in Iceland since 1974 so that one may expect the avalanche risk to have increased during this period. ECONOMIC LOSS The economic loss that has been inflicted by avalanches and landslides in Iceland has been enor- mous. It is convenient to divide this loss into three components. First, the direct loss due to damaged buildings and infrastructure and properties such as roads or subsurface constructions which may be aban- doned after an avalanche accident, etc. The direct loss is mainly borne by an insurance operated by the state, the Iceland Catastrophe Insurance. Rebuilding of in- frastructure after an accident and compensation for properties, which are not insured by the Iceland Catas- trophe Insurance, may partly be financed by funds established from private donations after an accident. Second, the cost of rescue and relief operations and other such operational cost associated with an acci- dent. The operational cost is mainly paid by the state. Third, the direct and indirect economic loss due to the disruption of the local society where an avalanche accident occurs. This cost is not paid by a definite in- stitute or agency and is not included the analysis pre- sented here. The direct loss and the cost of rescue and re- lief operations are summarised in Table 4 (August 2000 price levels and dollar exchange rate (80.43 IKR/USD)). The table shows that most of the cost is caused by snow avalanches hitting populated areas (about 90%). The bulk of the cost is caused by the three largest acci- dents in Neskaupstaður 1974 (1030 million IKR, 12.8 million USD), Súðavík 1995 (600 million IKR, 7.4 million USD) and Flateyri 1995 (730 million IKR, 9.1 million USD), which also caused the vast majority of the fatal accidents (46 of the 52 fatalities that have oc- curred in populated areas since 1974). The estimated economic loss includes insurance payments due to damaged buildings and infrastruc- ture, the cost of rescue operations, and the cost of various rebuilding financed by the government and funds established from private donations. It is based on information about payments of the Iceland Catas- trophe Insurance since 1983 and about the economic damage associated with the accident in Neskaup- staður in 1974. The operational cost is based on 86 JÖKULL No. 50
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