Zeyzoun Dam
| Zeyzoun Dam Sadd Zaizūn, Sadd Zezoun, Sadd Zayzoun |
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| Coordinates | 35 ° 43 '0 " N , 36 ° 22' 0" E | ||||||||
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The Seisun or Zeyzoun Dam ( Arabic سد زيزون, DMG Sadd Zaizūn , also Zezoun or Zayzoun ,) on a tributary of the Orontes River north of Hama (Hamah) in the Hama Governorate in Syria , about 350 km north of Damascus , erupted on June 4, 2002 . The death toll from the tidal wave is unclear; The reports usually speak of 22, but also 20, 27, 50 or up to 100.
The construction
The structure, which was completed in 1996 near the village of Zeyzoun, is a dam , probably made of loose earth material, as can be seen from satellite images.
The structure had a height of 32 m above the foundation level. The storage capacity of the reservoir was 71 million m³. Like 150 other dams in Syria, this dam was used to irrigate fields.
The catastrophe
Precipitation is reported in the period before the break. According to the population, the dam is said to have been overcrowded. Cracks were discovered in the dam around noon on June 4th (09:00 GMT). The population was warned and some villages downstream could be evacuated. Hundreds of people were able to flee in time and save themselves to higher areas. At 3:40 p.m. local time, the dam broke and caused a tidal wave. Some reports speak of cracks a few days earlier and poor maintenance of the system.
Many millions of cubic meters of water were released during the rupture, submerging several villages up to four meters under water. The Red Cross and the Red Crescent estimated that 8,000 people had become homeless. Five villages as well as fields and cattle herds on a total of 60 square kilometers were flooded. The villages of Zeyzoun, Ziara and Qastoun (Kastoon) were particularly hard hit. The exact number of victims is also not known precisely because many nomads were in the area. Areas in Turkey ( Hatay Province ) were also flooded.
After the disaster, Syria asked the United Nations for help, whereupon an UNDAC team (United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination) with the participation of the German THW was sent there.
There were later lawsuits against those responsible. The dam was rebuilt.
See also
Web links
- Zeyzoun Dam. In: Structurae
- BBC report 1
- BBC report 2
- BBC report 3
- A dam shame
- Spiegel Online: 22 dead and thousands homeless (as of June 7, 2002)