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?

Beat Rieder: 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.

With consequences for Basel?

It’s not about Basel. But about the question of whether and where to live with a residual risk in Switzerland. The current discussion has devastating consequences. It suggests politicians that they would have to take people out of the valleys. A depopulation of the valleys would be the completely wrong way.

The dangerous card is still suitable in its current form?

The previous danger cards of the Lötschental were absolutely appropriate. We have not had a single death since the 1950s due to events in the white zone. However, there are deaths when someone is skiing outside of secured slopes in red zones. We all know that.

Was the evacuation zone too short in Blatten?

I don’t know that. But what is clear: we are not allowed to panic now. From a sober point of view, this event was difficult to predict. The authorities did an excellent job. They predicted that a millennium could develop and prompted evacuation that went far beyond the dangerous card.

Did the management staff set new standards?

In my opinion yes. The authorities predicted that an event was imminent that cannot be encountered with normal measures such as street barriers and others. This was evacuated by 300 people instead of being buried under rubble. Unfortunately, it was different in Arth-Goldau 200 years ago. This is a great progress of science, experts and authorities involved.

What teachings do you draw?

It takes even more modern and better monitoring of crisis in Switzerland. Each canton has a hazard card and knows exactly where the dangers are.

What do you expect specifically?

That the budget post is increased by natural hazards at the next budget negotiation. We need more funds for the defense against natural hazards so that authorities and scientists can foresee such Super-Gaus. I will submit appropriate applications. The money must primarily be on the front of the affected communities. Do not underestimate the intuition of people who have been living with these risks for generations. Technology is good, at the end of the chain there is a person who takes a residual risk, but also orders the evacuation in good time. But one thing wonders: are the priorities in Switzerland still correct?

How do you mean that?

The internal and external security of the population is a priority task of our state. For internal security, the police and judiciary and other things are not only included. This also includes the defense against dangers such as floods, earthquakes, avalanches, murgeon lengths, glacier and clamping. According to the invoice, the Federal Office for the Environment issued CHF 38 million for protection against natural hazards. There were 30.6 million for the recycling of glass, for recycling batteries 30 million and 49.9 million for multilateral environmental funds.

Do you accept the Federal Office for the Environment?

I take everyone, including myself. I only say: All of these posts are in the same Federal Office of a Department. We have to rethink the priorities in Switzerland!