The village that faces obliteration any moment: Swiss mountain hamlet is evacuated amid warnings it will be crushed under landslide of five million cubic meters of rock within hours

Daily Mail​

20-05-2025

Hundreds have been evacuated from an Alpine village in southern Switzerland amid fears of an imminent rockslide that could wipe out their hamlet.
Blatten, a village of around 300 people in the Loetschental valley, lies in the path of what geologists fear could be a massive avalanche of rock.
Residents - and a herd of 52 cows - were evacuated by authorities on Tuesday as a precaution.
Many now fear they may never see their homes again as experts revealed 1.5 million cubic metres of have already tumbled down the mountainside.
'But the worse could still happen,' said Matthias Ebener, head of information for the regional command staff.
Scientists say more than 3 million cubic metres of rock and stone are continuing to shift on the Klein Nesthorn, above the town, local media outlet 20min reports.
On Monday, some 200,000 cubic metres of rock descended down the mountain face, with the situation having stabilised by the next day. However experts say this is more likely a temporary pause in activity.
'Most of it has not yet flowed into the valley and has remained trapped in a cirque at the summit,' Ebener added.
On Monday, some 200,000 cubic metres of rock descended down the mountain face, with the situation having stabilised - but experts say this is more likely a temporary pause in activity
Added to this, subsidence has been observed with scientists noting the ground shifting at a rate of 1.5metres an hour.
Cracks measuring 17 metres deep have also been seen.
A firefighter blocks traffic on a road as a security measure against a possible rockfall in the direction of Blatten in the canton of Valais
Alban Brigger, a natural hazards engineer in Upper Valais, was even more stark in his warning on Monday - that the mountain is certain to collapse.
He added however that this event could potentially happen over several, smaller landscapes, rather than a widescale collapse that would obliterate the hamlet and nearby roads.
In 2023, residents of the village of Brienz in eastern Switzerland were evacuated before a huge mass of rock slid down a mountainside, stopping just short of the settlement.
Brienz was evacuated again last year because of the threat of a further rockslide.