He was alive despite being trapped for three days. Essentially, the Thredbo landslide that occurred above Thredbo, NSW at 11:30pm on the night of 30 July 1997, was a debris flow landslide. The Thredbo Landslide, although very small by most standards, was Australia’s most significant landslide in terms of societal impact with the highest death toll (18 people) and probably the highest indirect economic loss. The Thredbo landslide was a catastrophic landslide that occurred at the village and ski resort of Thredbo, New South Wales, Australia, on 30 July 1997.Two ski lodges were destroyed, and a … Paul Featherstone was the paramedic who kept talking to Diver for 11 hours until he was freed. The Abbotsford Landslide of 8 August 1979 occurred in an urban area of Dunedin, New Zealand, causing much damage to houses and urban infrastructure. These middle-sized lodges and the road had a total of $24 million dollars needed for the reconstruction. Mar 27, 2015 11:16am When asked if he had sustained any injuries, the voice replied "No, but my feet are bloody cold!". Police Superintendent Charlie Sanderson explained to the press the difficulty of extracting Diver because they could not risk the concrete slab falling on top of him. The Sydney Morning Herald. Plaque commemorates the victims of the landslide which occurred at Thredbo Village in 1997. The slope of the hillside, which ranged from 20 to 40 degrees and the sub-zero temperatures made rescue efforts difficult. Justice Michael Grove found the landslide was equally caused by leakage from the main, the marginal instability of the slope above Carinya lodge, the existence and state of the Alpine Way, and the failure to improve the slope and roadway. Eighteen people died when the Bimbadeen and Carinya Lodge s collapsed at Thredbo Alpine Village at pm on Wednesday 30 July 1997.About 3500 tonnes of debris came down the slope. On July 30, 1997, over 1,000 tons of debris came crashing down a slope in an Australian ski resort. He opens up about losing not just one wife, but two. The Thredbo landslide had the economic impact of only the reconstruction of the two buildings, the Carinya Ski Lodge and the Bimbadeen Lodge and also the main road, Alpine Way. While landslides are a naturally occurring environmental hazard they have recently increased in frequency in … At 11.35pm, on 30 July 1997, 3,500 tonnes of rock and mud slid down the side of Thredbo, a ski resort in New South Wales, taking two ski lodges with it.The landslide killed 18 people, one of whom was Diver's first wife, Sally (née Donald). What are landslides and how do they occur? The story of Stuart Diver, the only person to survive the 1997 Thredbo tragedy that came about when a landslide engulfed a ski lodge situated in the Snowy Mountains. At 11.35pm, on 30 July 1997, 3,500 tonnes of rock and mud slid down the side of Thredbo, a ski resort in New South Wales, taking two ski lodges with it.The landslide killed 18 people, one of whom was Diver's first wife, Sally (née Donald). Medical staff were sent from Cooma to Thredbo, and also from Canberra to Jindabyne, which was a point for triage. After 65 hours in sub-zero temperatures with only a small blanket and jacket, Diver was finally pulled from the rubble. Approximately 2,000 cubic metres of rock shifted below the Alpine Way. The first body was recovered at 4:20 pm. Retrieved 21 October 2013. Two ski lodges were destroyed and 18 people died. At 5:37 am on 2 August, digging finished and rescue workers dropped sound equipment into a hole they had been digging, as was the standard procedure. The Thredbo Landslide took out two ski lodges and buried 19 people. Retrieved 21 October 2013. Only one person survived the massive landslide at the Thredbo ski resort in New South Wales 20 years ago. Thredbo Landslide 1997 A Natural Disater. These middle-sized lodges and the road had a total of $24 million dollars needed for the reconstruction. Tragedy struck on July 30, 1997 when a landslide in Thredbo buried 19 people under rocks, concrete, and muddy water. Rapid failure occurred after weeks of preliminary movements, resulting in the formation of a approximately 5 million m3 block slide. But they couldn’t go and help the people in the landslide because they thought another landslide might happen, due to the instability of the ground. When the site had to be evacuated each time the rubble shifted, Featherstone would stay below ground to keep Diver talking and distract him.[3]. Amber Sherlock as a 21-year-old snow reporter in Thredbo. The landslide hit an eastern wing of one of the lodges first, which caused the nearby land to collapse onto lodges below. The building was dislodged by the fast-moving sludge and slid downhill towards the Bimbadeen lodge. It began with a terrifying roar. At 11:37 pm, New South Wales Fire Brigades Communication Centre at Wollongong received emergency calls from the lodge at Thredbo. The scene of the 1997 Thredbo landslide. The Brindabella Ski Club opened its new lodge several years after the incident on the 5th of June, 2004. ^ McMahon, Neil (30 July 2007). Brindabella Ski Club opened its new lodge on 5 June 2004. These hazards may or may not affect the human life significantly. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, characterized by either steep or gentle slope gradients, from mountain ranges to coastal cliffs or even underwater, in which case they are called submarine landslides. Thredbo village and ski resort with Alpine Way road seen running above the lodges (Summer 2008), List of disasters in Australia by death toll, "Australia landslide toll rises, hopes fading", "20 years on: The dreaming that kept Stuart Diver alive", "Report of the inquest into the deaths arising from the Thredbo landslide", "History of major incidents – 1997 Thredbo landslide", "Thredbo landslide a disaster waiting to happen", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1997_Thredbo_landslide&oldid=990901330, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 27 November 2020, at 04:22. The Coroner's report released on 29 June 2000 said that the landslide was caused by water from a leaking water main. In 1998, three terraces with gabions and reinforced fill were constructed on the site and the Alpine Way was rebuilt with upslope retaining walls. The site along with a section of the Alpine Way is now monitored with 25 inclinometers, to detect any slope movement, and 12 piezometers, to keep track of water flow in the soil.[1]. A large slab of concrete which had been part of the Bimbadeen carpark made rescue efforts difficult. On 1 August, one more body was discovered in the early morning, and two more later during the day. About 1,000 tonnes (1,100 tons) of liquefied earth and debris came down the slope. Thredbo landslide survivor Stuart Diver. Resources; Natural Hazards & Natural Disasters They are potential threats to human life and property that the environment yields. Witnesses reported hearing "a whoosh of air, a crack and a sound like a freight train rushing down the hill". In July 1997, Australia’s worst landslide occurred when a large section of steep mountainside below the Alpine Way road collapsed immediately above part of Thredbo Ski Village (New South Wales). No individual government authority had responsibility for maintenance while the National Parks and Wildlife Service's own funding was inadequate for maintenance of park roads "not designed for the purpose to which they were later put".