An Earthquake Trapped a Lake Above a City. They Drained It With Shovels. ⛏️

[!NOTE] Historical File: An Earthquake Trapped a Lake Above a City. They Drained It With Shovels. ⛏️ Location: Chile | Era: Archival History | Format: Documentary & Narrative Record

The Untold Story

The strongest earthquake ever recorded trapped a lake above a city. The year was 1960, and a hundred thousand Chileans lived downstream.

Landslides had blocked the river draining this mountain lake. With nowhere to go, the water kept climbing behind a dam of earth.

On the coast, the tsunami had already thrown ships onto houses. If the lake spilled, every town along the river had five hours.

An engineer took charge. Bulldozers sank in the mud, so soldiers and workers dug with shovels. An idea to blast the dam with missiles was rejected.

Bit by bit, the dam came down and the lake drained. Towns downstream partly flooded. A lake beaten with shovels, not missiles. Would you have trusted that? Tell me in the comments.

Historical Discussion

💭 Some US military officers proposed blowing up the landslide dams with missiles fired from a helicopter. Chile turned the idea down and kept digging. Shovels, or missiles - which would you have trusted? Follow along for more of history’s closest calls.

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