C a s e

H i s t o r i e s

assisted by theirneighbors,7 were locked in theirhouses
(but not burried in snow).20 people were missing and of
them 6 were rescuedby locals and the rescueteams.
Since this happenedduringa severe snow storm all res-
cueeffortswere extremelydifficult.Adding tothatthe
fact that at such latitude the daylight in January is only a
few hours, made the conditionseven worse.Of course the
first response came from the survivors in Sudavik and the
small local rescueteam, but one of the first things the head
ofthevillagecouncildidwastocallforallavailable
assistance from the nearby town of Isafjordur.All roads to
Sudavik were closed at that time due to snow and extreme
avalanche danger, and it was impossible to use airplanes
or rescue helicopters.The only way to get to Sudavik was
by ship,but that was difficult in such a weather, wind of
force10-12andheavy seas.Thefirst52rescuersfrom
Isafjordur came to Sudavik at 9:50,three and a half hours
aftertheaccident(normal drivingtimeis20minutes),
equipped with avalancherescue gear and avalanchedogs.
Theystartedimmediatelytosearchwiththelocals,but
thebad weather and the extentofthe accident madeall
rescue operations extremely difficult.A limited number
of rescue transceivers also affected the numberof people
that couldsearchatany time.All theinhabitantsof Sudavik
had been moved to the fish processing plant,close to the
harbour,andfromthereallrescueoperationswere
organized.ThesheriffatIsafjordursooncontactedthe
NationalCivilProtectioninReykjavikaskingforall
available help,nationwide.From Reykjavik two ships,a
coastguardvesseland afishing trawler,were sentwith
specially trained rescuers, and fishing trawlers started to
collect rescue personnel fromothervillages in Vestfirdir
andotherpartsofIceland,totakethemtotheaccident
site.The weather affected thespeed of the ships, andeven
made two of them run into some troubles,so they had to
beassistedbyotherships.Laterthesecondgroupof
rescuers were transportedfrom Isafjordur to Sudavik, and
at the same time the people of Sudavik were taken back to
"nearby" Isafjordur.All this happenedin a severe weather
conditions,andmoreavalanchescamedown,hitting
houses in Sudavik and Isafjordur(in an evacuated area).
The rescuepersonnelfrom Reykjavík arrived 35 hours after
the first call forassistance was made.The last survivors
wasfound 15and 23hoursafterthe avalanche fell,and
the last victim was located after 39 hours.
The avalanche had claimed the lives of14 people,in-
cluding 8 children.It hadalso totally destroyed part of the
village.
On October24th 1995 a pressure low approached Ice-
land from the SSE.The front fromthat low crossed Ice-
land,resulting in a severe winterstorm,speciallyin the
NWpart of the country.The weather itself was not so unu-
sual,but the timing was,so early in the winter.This low
was followed by another onetravelingalongsimilar course.
Those two lows resultedin asevere winter storm thatlasted
for more than 48 hours in northernpart ofIceland.When
this was forecasteda generalavalanchewarningwas given,
and people in northern andwestern part of Iceland started
toevacuatethehousesthatwerewithintheavalanche
hazardzones.OnOctober25thanavalanchehitand

damaged severely the garbage burning plant in Isafjordur,
confirming the worries about avalanchedanger.
At3.55inthemorningofOctober26th1995abigslab
avalanchewas releasedin theSkollahvilft bowl, highabove
the village of Flateyri (379 inhabitants) in the NW part of
Iceland (Figure 2).The avalanche started just below the
edge oftheplateau,at 650m.a.s.l.and the fractureline
was up to 3.9 meters thick.The total volume of the ava-
lanche was estimated tobe closeto 500,000m ³ ,and the
total length was 2,100 meters.The widest part of the ava-
lanchewas 500 meters and debris was up to 4 meters thick.
The avalanche went much further than the avalanche
hazard zone line, and in total 29 buildings were hit, 26 of
them houses.Of those 29 buildings, 17 were destroyed or
damagedbeyondrepair.Only 3 of those houses werewithin
the avalanche danger zone, and had been evacuatedafter
the general avalanche warning had been issued,two days
earlier. In those houses at that time there were 45 people,
all of them asleep.Of those 45,21 escaped orwere soon
assistedbyneighboursandfourwere dugoutafterthe
rescue had been organized.
The rescue operations were almost a copy of the one in
Sudavik,10 monthsearlier,except that the weather was
not as bad nordid it last as long.The first response was
naturally from the people ofFlateyri and the smalllocal
rescue team.A call forall available help was made to the
sheriffs office in Isafjordur, whichthen alertedthe National
CivilProtectioninReykjavíkformultiagency/multiarea
assistance.The rescue teams from Isafjordur started their
trip to Flateyri by driving through a new road tunnel, still
under construction, but due to extreme avalanchedanger
had to be taken by a small fishing boat the last kilometers
to Flateyri.They came to Flateyri at 9:30, almost six hours
afterthe accident had happen (normal driving time is 30
minutes), andstartedimmediately to search withthelocals.
Avalanche dogswereused toindicatewhere something
wasburied,and peoplewith probesand shovelswould
thendiginandcutopenthehousedebris.Asinthe
Sudavik incident,rescue personnel were sent with ships
from Reykjavík and othertowns and villages.They also
used helicopters andairplanesto getas closeto the accident
site as the weather permitted, andthen onward with ships.
Duringtheday theweatherimprovedandat 13:13 theCoast
GuardhelicoptermanagedtolandatFlateyriwith
specializedrescuepersonnel and avalanchedogs onboard.
It was soon followed by other helicopters, bringingin more
rescuers.After the experiencein Sudavik,rescuepersonnel
were much better prepared for the search andrescuework
in Flateyri.Most of the rescuers had been themselves in
Sudavik,andtherewaseventhesameOn-Scene-
Commander directingboth operations.Thelast victim was
found after 36 hours, and it was estimated that during that
search, 7-8,000 m ³of snow had been hand-shoveled.
The avalanche had claimed the lives of20 people,in-
cluding 3 small children.It had also destroyed part of the
village.

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