Corners Cut to Save Money: The Gleno Dam Disaster 1923 | Plainly Difficult Documentary

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The middle section of the Gleno dam, Italy, collapsed on 1 December 1923, forty days after the reservoir was filled, causing widespread flooding and destruction.....

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This weeks Outro Song:

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CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
00:50 Background
04:35 Disaster
07:13 Investigation

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MUSIC:
►Intro: Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov)
►Outro: Second Sun (Made By John)

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#disaster #Documentary​​​​ #History​​​​​​​​​ #TrueStories​

[PlainlyDifficult]

Also have any other Dam failures you’d like me to cover let me know below!!

[NickJohnCoop]

Dam construction is *never* something you do cheaply, but it is something that has happened time and again across cultures and time periods. The cost of fixing someone’s desire to save some money in the construction always boggles my mind.

[lukemehalick]

I've built almost my entire life. When I first started I worked for a couple different crews, & one thing that was obvious early on was that every corner cut chases you right until the very end. A small cut corner in the beginning could very easily lead to a corner crumbling. It's cheaper to do it just once, the right way.

[saragrant]

One thing that never seems to change is this- when ordinary workers make astute observations about the safety of a project being built- they are quite often ignored. Being a boss doesn’t make an individual intelligent, that’s for darn sure.

[r.e.bieron]

I love your channel! I would like to suggest the 1954 Cheektowoga Union Free School Fire. The fire started "innocently" enough, (boiler/heating unit) but became a horrible tragedy due to lack of fire drills and the windows being nailed/painted shut. This relatively small local disaster impacted how fire safety was treated in schools. I remember being taught how to open certain windows in school "in case of emergency".

[martarossiuk]

My grandmother’s family was wiped out by this tragedy, she was only a little girl but had vivid memories of this day and the aftermaths for ever. Thanks for the accurate summary – appreciate the insightful quotes at 3’23’’ + 3’39’’, probably almost verbatim what was said.

[WillYouVid]

I like this new "zero-to-dumpster-fire" scale. And your synth works add just the touch. It's amazing how your style and choice of subjects have evolved since those first vids on Dyatlov or the Iron Drunkard

[Exploited]

I’m from Bergamo, the Gleno dam is still there today (the ruins I mean 😅), its a wonderful hiking destination with an astonishing view of the valley

[nabagaca]

Its nice to see that at least some justice was served, but disappointing that it wasn't enough to prevent future dam disasters. Great video, as always!

[darrens]

What always amazes me about these cost cutting disasters is how cheaper it would be to have built it properly, than face all of the compounded costs of the aftermath. Its always cheaper in the long term to build it properly.

[JackFresia]

"La Gatta Frettolosa Fa I Gattini Ciechi" (The hasty cat, makes blind kittens) is so on point, in this context! That, and so much more proves the quality of those videos. As Italian I was happily surprised at this fine touch ;-)

[simonamos]

I wonder how much the Gleno disaster would influence the construction of Vajont dam. Vajont is still standing after all surviving a huge avalanche & mega tsunami. Good video, it's hard to find much information on Gleno in English.

[Moggster]

If you're looking for suggestions for incidents to cover, I'd like to suggest the little known (unless you're local) 1965 level crossing collision at Roundstone, West Sussex. My mother was a school girl at the time, she ran for and missed the bus which was involved in the collision and caught the bus behind. She also knew the signalman involved who was widely blamed by the local community.

[cvtt]

How many poorly built dams around the world are still yet to collapse, only holding together by sheer luck? Scary to think about. Great video, as always.

[toocutepuppies]

Exactly why we NEED to protect whistleblowers. They can save lives if we listen to them.

[juliusejudo]

I still cannot believe it's been 6 years. Thank you John!

[abrunosON]

Workers being afraid of losing their jobs and withholding critical information is called the spiral of silence.

[maxski]

Your video’s are masterfully detailed and your work rivals anything that Iv watched on the tv growing up describing disasters of man’s stupidity. Hats off and I hope you receive your true worth from the universe!

[eji]

"Corners Cut to Save Money" could almost be the new name for this channel, because of how many of these disasters are the direct result of it.

[Telewaifus]

Thank you from Italy for covered this story, almost forgotten by the history except in my region (Lombardy)