A dam can fail for many reasons. Sometimes it just takes one.
Causes for dam failure:
(1) poor site selection
(2) poor design
(3) poor construction
(4) poor maintenance
(5) poor weather (torrential rains, other)
(6) old age
Site selection may involve:
(1) seismicity
(2) suitability of underlying geology
(3) risk of avalanche
(4) communities downstream
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Specialty: Emergency Medicine