Although nobody wants a dam failure, dam failure and dam breaks occur. Cannata & Marzochi note that between the years 2000 and 2009 more than 200 notable dam failures happened worldwide. Moreover, in the last years we had several dam failure events in different countries such as:
Oroville – America 2017 (Dam failure)
Brumadinho – Brazil 2019 (Dam break)
Xepian Xe Nam Noy Dam - Laos 2018 (Dam break)
Hidroituango - Colombia 2018 (dam failure)
Thus, every dam should consider at least a dam failure analysis. The cost of a dam failure analysis is negligible compared with the cost of dams.
Note: Dam failure does not necessarily refer to a structural collapse (This collapse is dam break or dam collapse). Dam failure refers to any event in which water overflows out of control.