Modelling the Brumadinho tailings dam failure, the subsequent loss of life and how it could have been reduced

Lumbroso, D. and Davison, M. and Body, R. and Petkovsek, G. (2021) Modelling the Brumadinho tailings dam failure, the subsequent loss of life and how it could have been reduced. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 21. pp. 21-37.

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-21-2021

Abstract

In recent years the number of tailings dams failures has increased. On 25 January 2019, the Brumadinho tailings dam in Brazil suddenly failed releasing a mudflow over 10 m deep comprising some 10 million m3 of mining waste which killed between 270 and 320 people. This paper details the use of an agent-based model, known as the Life Safety Model (LSM), to estimate the risk to people downstream of the Brumadinho tailings dam and to assess if the number of fatalities could have been reduced if a warning had been received prior to or at time the dam failed. The LSM modelling indicates that even if a warning had been issued as the dam failed the number of fatalities could have been reduced. Agent-based modelling tools such as the LSM can help to inform and improve emergency plans for tailings dams, which will help to reduce the risk posed by them in the future.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Floods > General
Floods > Dams and reservoirs
Divisions: Floods
Depositing User: Helen Stevenson
Date Deposited: 05 Nov 2020 09:32
Last Modified: 03 Mar 2021 13:46
URI: http://eprints.hrwallingford.com/id/eprint/1443

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