When she heard the bang, she knew immediately: the village is no more

‘Lötschental, het magische dal”, staat op een affiche waarmee bezoekers in het Alpendal welkom worden geheten. De tekst komt wrang over nu een van de vier dorpjes in de vallei door een ingestorte gletsjer is weggevaagd. De Alpenvallei verkeert in een staat van shock. De samenhorigheid van de dorpen Blatten, Ferden, Kippel en Wiler is groot, maar een van de vier, Blatten, is niet More tries to understand what happened on May 28, when a nearby mountain collapsed and break down, and the village buried under 9 million cubic meters of mud, debris and melting glacier ice cream.

The mass of debris under which blats is buried, is 2.5 kilometers long and in some places a hundred meters thick.

Around three hundred inhabitants were evacuated in time; A 64-year-old man is still missing. The evacuated people stay with family and friends, elsewhere in the valley, and are difficult to be approachable for the media. The day after the catastrophe, when the National Swiss media flowed, some hostilities took place between the locals, still in shock, and TV teams. Help is offered in an intimate circle, far away from the eyes of outsiders.

Because the authorities do not want to take risks, and an area around blats remains dangerous, Lötschental is closed to the outside world. Roads and bridges in the area are closed. Along the only access road that remains open for the emergency services, army and police carefully check who wants to enter. Only local residents and journalists are allowed to continue driving.

What remains of the picturesque village is hidden under a huge chocolate -colored mass, hidden between the alpine flanks, in the shadow of snowy mountain peaks. From a distance it looks like you are looking at a huge construction site, where a bulldozer has poured a gigantic load of sand and rubble. Helicopters are flying up and forth with scientists and technicians who constantly evaluate the situation. Specialized staff removes tree trunks in the pond that arose, so that the glacier water and the water of the Lonza River can flow off.

Under that mass of debris was the birth village of Brigitte Lehner (55) until last week, where she managed the hotel and restaurant Breithorn together with her sister. « We were the third generation of managers, from a hotel that had been in our family since 1933. Our grandparents had opened it. All our family memories were in that hotel. »

Blatten was a close community, says the former hotel operator, where tradition, music, the church and religious parades were important. « I can’t help with my head that all of this is all gone. It feels like I’m in a bad movie that doesn’t end up. » She is relieved that her parents no longer have to experience this.

An hour and a half to grab

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter visited the disaster area with a helicopter and could hardly believe her eyes. The president had a lot of praise for the successful evacuation and the way in which the local authorities have prevented a disaster with many hundreds of deaths.

« We got an hour and a half to pack, » says Brigitte Lehner. « Afterwards it is absurd of course, but I opted for the paperwork and hotel reservations. » At that time she thought she could return a few days later to pick up personal items. « I wanted to be able to inform our guests about when we could receive them again. » A silly smile appears on her lips. « But when I heard the bang – it seemed like an explosion or a hurricane – I immediately told myself: blats is no longer. »

Just like the other villages in Lötschental, blats also lived according to the rhythm of nature. In the region it is said that only nature is lord and master. The inhabitants have always had to take into account what natural disasters are called, such as avalanches or ground shifts. But the fact that one day would break down a whole glacier had never dared to imagine anyone.

From behind their writing tables in Zurich, Geneva and Lausanne, scientists unanimously say that climate change plays an important role in the Alps, where permafrost – the layer of ice that is normally always frozen – melts nowadays. In the Swiss newspaper Le Temps Glaciologist Wilfried Haeberli of the University of Zurich says that the connection between the collapsed mountain, glacier and climate warming is clear.

In Blatten and the surrounding Alpine villages you can hear that nobody says aloud. The shock is too large for that and the population is still too much in the state of emergency. Time does not seem ripe for a thorough analysis of the causes of the catastrophe.

« The glacier has lost pieces for years, but of course never as bad as happened, » says Fernando Lehner of the crisis team in Lötschental, in a conversation with NRC. « It is the first time that something like that has happened in the Alps. Thorough research is needed. »

Christian Rieder, member of parliament for the canton of Wallis, and chairman of the council that includes the four Alpine villages in Lötschental, says that he has « no idea or the climate has to do with this. » It does not help the Alpine region if it is simply concluded that the mountain area will be too dangerous to live in, he says during a conversation outside the town hall of the village of Kippel, where the crisis center for the disaster is located.

« I don’t feel like dogmatic thinking, we have figures and facts on which we can continue to build. » The canton, and the Swiss federation, he says, must provide the Alpine area clarity after investigation about where it is safe to build and live. « Blats will be rebuilt after such an investigation, but it is already clear that the new village will be a lot smaller and possibly ends up in a slightly different place. » But « we want to continue to live here, » says Rieder, who even hopes that the population in the Alpine area is growing, with centrally located services, such as schools, and a thriving tourism industry.

The disaster will – at least temporarily – have an impact on tourism in the Alpine region, suspects Barwoman Yvonne Hillenga, who already saw her turnover fall considerably during the Ascension Weekend. « No tourist is coming through for the time being, » says Hillenga in her almost empty café. The hospitality operator, originally from East Groningen, has been living in the village of Wiler for 16 years, where she has run the local pub Tschäggättu Pub.

The Tschäggätu are dark masks that belong to the carnival valley in the valley, the wooden facades of the houses in Wilder are full. « The three best hotels in the Lötschental were in blats. There was the best infrastructure and the best staff. No idea what else is happening, because tourists and people with a second home are not allowed here for the time being. And the localsThey get alcohol in the supermarket and drink at home. « 

Willy Ebener, who works with the army, looks sad in his glass of white wine. « You have to dare to name it as it is: the Lötschental is dead. »

Not everyone sees it gloomy. The valley has also survived earlier disasters, says the local politician Christian Rieder. « A big fire broke out in Wilder in 1900. Everyone was evacuated in time, but the flames devoured the entire village. Even after that, the togetherness was great. The village was rebuilt and today Wilder is a tourist destination. We can’t let ourselves be small. »

To share

Mail the editors