Loen Rockfall Center
Description
Seven percent of the Norwegian landscape consists of rock and bare mountains, this makes a total of thirteen thousand mountains. The Norwegian culture is strongly influenced by settlements close to the wild mountain landscape. These populations vary from small villages to larger cities.
Living close to these natural forces has resulted in many villages getting destroyed by the consequences of rock fall events.
Landslides of more than ten thousand cubic meters of rock are referred to as rockfalls.
These have led to some of the worst natural disasters we know of in Norway. In the northern parts of Western Norway, historical documentation shows that there have been two or three disasters associated with large rockfalls and tidal waves every 100 years.
The most famous disasters are the Loen landslides in 1905 and 136 and in Tafjord in 1934. The landslides caused tidal waves which led to a total of hundred and seventy four people losing their lives. (ngi.no 2016)
Rock fall events are increasing due to global warming and environmental changes. Increased temperatures, heavy rain and glacier retreat and movement in the earth crust are important factors affecting rock fall caution. (ngi.no 2016)
My diploma project is a further exploration of the topic, narrowed down to a specific place of relevance: Loen in Stryn Municipality. Loen has been strongly affected by the mountain Ramnefjellet and its rockfall events. I decided to situate my project here based on the historical analysis of national rockfall events I did in my prediploma.