Quick background: I found this while searching for events that happened on September 9 (we just had 09/09/09). A Web site mistakenly lists this disaster as happening on September 9, 1963; actually it happened October 9, 1963. Hadn't heard of it before, but it's listed as one of the top engineering disasters in history. The Vajont (Vaiont) Landslide The site linked in the header provides small snapshots of the whole area. Two examples: Here's an annotated picture that helps put it in context. Here's a picture of the immediate aftermath: To really get this in perspective, though, use Google Maps....