In class this week, we watched a recording of former lieutenant Governor of Alaska and Chancellor of UAA, Fran Ulmer's, talk about her role on the Oil Spill Commission appointed by President Barack Obama to investigate the root cause of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
For this blog post, reflect on the disaster (or others throughout history), and find an article relating to what transpired after the spill and if/how things have changed. Post by Monday, March 24 at 8:00AM.
Have a great Spring Break!
http://www.civilengineeringcareers.org/civil-engineering-disasters-the-st-francis-dam-flooding
ReplyDeleteThe article that I have chosen talks about the St. Francis Dam flooding. It happened in 1928 in the Los Angles County, California. The flooding itself claimed about 500 lives. What caused the dam to fail was the "limited understanding of the geological foundations of the dam". Their wasn't any type of device back in the 1920's to determine whether or not the site for the dam was safe. The article mentions that two famous geologists of that time examined that site and determined that the site was safe. Another "failing point" to the flooding of the damn was adding another ten feet to its height.
The outcome for this disaster was changing how dams were designed and constructed . Another change that happened was the inspection of all dams across the United States. This was an important one because upon inspecting, a full third of the dams needed alterations as well as repairs or reinforcement.