Councilor Beat Rieder warns of panic

Hardly anyone knows the natural hazards in the Lötschental as well as Beat Rieder. The former municipal council of Wiler and Valley Council President of the Lötschental is a warning.

The “NZZ on Sunday” published a hazard card, on which almost the entire Lötschental was colored red. Can a new village be built in Blatten?

Because of the avalanche risk, there are actually many red zones in the Lötschental. They can be found on both sides of the valley between the villages, where the streams and rivers are. You cannot build between the villages. There is red zone there.

It looks different with the villages themselves?

Yes. Blatten, Wiler, Ferden and Tipel are in white, safe zones or yellow zones with negligible danger. Individual houses lie in blue zones, that is, they had to be built with object protection measures. In the Lötschental, it is basically only built where we can build absolutely safely because we had a lot of avalanches and misery. We know that because of our history and experience with such events.

Nevertheless, there was an impression that in the Valais, despite the hazard card was built everywhere.

With alleviation: this is complete nonsense. With an event like in Blatten, you cannot conclude whether you can still build in mountain areas or not. Perhaps individual journalists do that, but not the approval authorities.

Only: Blatten was covered. What does that mean?

The Blatten case was a millennium. An event that is not covered by the dangerous card. The idea of ​​the dangerous cards is to take out likely events. Frequent events are presented in a hazard card that can occur over a period of up to 30 years, medium events with a period of 100 years and rare events that can occur with a return period of 300 years. The map divides the areas into zones according to this frequency of events and the expected intensity.

Which zones?

Red zones have a significant risk. You must not be built in them. In blue zones with medium threats, increased construction methods and additional safety measures are required. Yellow zones are only endangered, as a rule, no structural measures are required. White zones with no or negligible danger are harmless. A yellow-white striped zone with residual risk can be excreted for areas in which the retail of an event is over 300 years, or for areas that can be affected by an extreme event. So far, this was dependent on the natural hazard process and not everywhere. Not just in Valais.

Is Blattens’ spilling is unique worldwide?

A glaziologist told me that the event was unique in this combination of mountain and glacier roots. So far there has been a similar event only in the Caucasus. A whole village was also buried there. But ask the experts.

Does Switzerland have to adjust the dangerous cards according to blatings?

Scientists have to analyze that. However, I can already say today what it means if you would integrate millennia events into the dangerous card in the future.

What?

Then the Alpine area is no longer habitable. Even large areas of Switzerland would no longer be habitable. For example, experts would have to say where the Mittelland should no longer be built due to possible millennia floods. And in my opinion, even large earthquakes would have to be included in the dangerous card.