Cliff collapse swept away a cemetery in Italy

A landslide carried away a cemetery situated at the edge of a cliff in northern Italy.

The incident occurred on February 22, 2021, in a coastal area near the Italian city of Genoa. The cemetery that was constructed more than 100 years ago, was partially destroyed. The cliff collapse observed is a typical failure caused by coastal erosion and wave action. Italian geologists suggested that the conditions deteriorated since the last intense storm that struck Italy in recent weeks. A layered, sedimentary rock mass appears on the cliff. 

Authorities initiated an operation to search for the bodies of the deceased people with the aid of rescue resources. The debris that was deposited into the Ligurian sea made the retrieval very challenging. The teams also utilized scuba divers. 

Geologists and engineers are monitoring the conditions of the cliff. The probability of a subsequent failure has not been excluded. 

Local people, mostly relatives of the decedents, were troubled with the situation and protested against the negligence that resulted in the current incident. The deterioration of the cliff's stability was apparent before the total failure. Cracks and fissures were observed and officials had initiated a series of stabilization works. Nevertheless, the repair works were clearly ineffective. A resident mentioned that cracks were observed in the cemetery since 2007 but, back then, no answer was provided by the town hall when the incident was reported.

Francesco Olivari, the mayor of Camogli (the village near which the failure occurred) stated that the cemetery was closed as stabilization works were carried out. Moreover, he mentioned that it is very difficult to predict or avoid this type of failure that the area is prone to due to intense coastal erosion.

Video footage from the internal section of the cemetery can be found here.

An investigation to find those responsible for not managing to preserve the cemetery and prevent the collapse is currently underway.

Many suggest that the current incident reveals a greater problem for the country to preserve its infrastructure. Domenico Angelone, the secretary of the Italian National Council of Geologists stated that similar issues have been detected and highlighted for years but authorities have not managed to prevent disasters. Moreover, he mentioned that many cemeteries are constructed in remote and unstable regions and are unprotected from natural disasters despite their “high social, moral and cultural value".

In 2018, a bridge collapsed under unclear circumstances in Genoa resulting in 43 fatalities. It was one of the most catastrophic bridge failures ever recorded. Back then, people persistently criticized Italy over its capability to preserve aging infrastructure.