 | ||
The rockslide of Elm (Canton of Glarus, Switzerland, in German Der Bergsturz von Elm) killed 115 people and destroyed 83 buildings on September 11, 1881. The catastrophe was partially caused by the mining of slate, beginning after 1870, by impoverished farmers which sought an additional source of income. The farmers not being experienced with proper mining techniques, they destabilized the rock face until the final catastrophe.
The miners undercut the mountain face on a breadth of 180, and already in 1878 first rock movements occurred. A geological commission which examined the issue of mounting rockfalls visited the scene shortly before the catastrophe, but did not find any indications of an impending disaster.
The loud noise of the rock falls, break-offs and fractures have already been heard during the Sunday mass on the morning of September 11, 1881. In spite of this, next to nobody left the dangerous area – in contrary, many spectators went to the affected area or climbed to the nearby hamlet Düniberg on the opposing face of the valley in the hope of enjoying a better view of the spectacle.
In the late afternoon, after two smaller rock slides, 10 million meters cubed (353 million cubic ft) of slate broke off, travelled 2 km (1.24 miles), and destroyed 90 hectares (222.4 acres) of land. The slate mine was also completely destroyed.
The event and its causes were chronicled in the same year by the local priest Ernst Buss and the geologist Albert Heim in their publication "Der Bergsturz von Elm".