Swiss Dal open again after collapse of glacier, largely destroyed

The Swiss Lötschental is again accessible to residents and visitors, after part of the Birch glacier broke off at the end of May and the mountain village of Blatten was flooded by a devastating avalanche of ice, rubble and mud. That report The Swiss news sites Watson and NZZ Saturday. Only blats themselves are not allowed to go back to residents and tourists.

At the natural disaster, more than 3.5 million cubic meters of ice, rock and snow came loose from the glacier. The avalanche destroyed approximately 90 percent of the houses in blats. The damage is estimated at hundreds of millions of Swiss Franks.

The Lonza River, which flows through blades, was completely blocked by a rubble mass, creating a temporary lake. It initially led to fear of flooding. The water level has since been stabilized, experts told Watson.

A 64-year-old sheep farmer is still missing and is probably buried under the rubble. In mid -May, about three hundred residents of Blatten, together with their cattle, were evacuated as a precaution.

Rebuild

The Swiss Federal Council has promised five million francs (around 3.5 million euros) to emergency aid. This contribution is seen as a first step in a longer process of reconstruction and recovery. Geologist Hans-Rudolf Keusen tells Watson that reconstruction is ‘technically possible’, provided that it is carefully tackled and in consultation with the population.

The mayor of Blatten, Matthias Bellwald, has announced that he wants to rebuild the village. « Blats is under a cone cone. Together we are going to do what is humanly possible to rebuild the village, so that the village has a future. Together we are strong, » said Bellwald in a press conference, writes Swiss newspaper NZZ.

Landslide

The Birch glacier has been actively monitored since the 1990s due to the risk of collapse. The immediate reason for the disaster seems to be a landslide on the nearby mountain De Kleiner Nesthorn. There, a week before the disaster, a few million cubic meters of rock crashed on the glacier, which then collapsed under the weight.

Climate change plays a major role in shrinking glaciers in the Alps. In 2023 the Alpine area lost 4 percent of glacier ice, even 6 percent a year earlier. Since 2000, mountain glaciers have lost about 5 percent of their ice since 2000.

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