Massive glacier collapse devastates Swiss village of Blatten
A massive glacier collapsed down a Swiss mountainside on Wednesday, burying the Alpine village of Blatten, which officials had evacuated earlier this month as a safety measure.
Regional police said a 64-year-old man was reported missing, and search and rescue operations involving a drone with thermal camera were under way.
'What I can tell you at the moment is that about 90% of the village is covered or destroyed, so it's a major catastrophe that has happened here in Blatten," said Stephane Ganzer, the head of security in the southern Valais region.
Footage shared on social media and Swiss television showed the mudslide near Blatten, located in the southern Lötschental valley, where residences and structures were partially submerged under a large mass of sludge.
The regional government announced in a statement that a significant portion of the Birch Glacier located above the village had disintegrated, resulting in a landslide that also covered the nearby Lonza River bed, thereby increasing the risk of dammed water flows.
'There's a risk that the situation could get worse,' Ganzer said, alluding to the blocked river.
He added that the army had been mobilised following previous indications that the glacier's movement was speeding up.
During a press conference, Swiss Environment Minister Albert Rösti expressed his sorrow over what he described as "an extraordinary event". He stated that the government would implement measures to assist the villagers who have lost their homes.
In the past few days, officials have ordered the evacuation of approximately 300 people, along with all livestock, from the village due to concerns that the 1.5 million cubic metre glacier may be on the verge of collapsing.
Swiss glaciologists have consistently expressed concerns about a thaw observed in recent years, largely attributed to global warming, which has accelerated the retreat of glaciers in Switzerland.
The landlocked Alpine nation has the highest number of glaciers among all European countries and experienced a 4% loss of its total glacier volume in 2023. This marked the second-largest decrease in a single year, following a 6% reduction in 2022.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
a day ago
- France 24
Over half of Europe and Mediterranean basin hit by drought in mid-May
It was the highest level recorded for that period of time in the year since monitoring began in 2012, and more than 20 points higher than the average between 2012-2024. The EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, based on satellite imagery, takes into account three benchmarks: precipitations, or rainfall, soil moisture and the state of vegetation. Watch, warning, alert There are three levels of drought: watch, warning and alert. Between May 11-20, 42 percent of Europe's soil and the Mediterranean basin were lacking in moisture, at a warning level, and five percent at alert level, signalling that vegetation was developping abnormally. Northern, eastern and central European countries were mainly concerned, with high alert levels. Some 19 percent of Ukrainian territory was on a state of alert while other countries were in a worrying situation, including Belarus (17 percent), Poland (10 percent), Hungary and Slovakia (nine percent). To the south, the level of alert stood at 20 percent in some countries and territories, including in Syria, Cyprus and the Palestinian territories. While stopping short of a state of alert, several countries were in mid-May hit by some kind of large drought, including the United Kingdom across 98 percent of its territory since mid-March. The UK's official weather service The Met Office said the UK experienced its its warmest spring on record -- and its driest in more than 50 years. The European Central Bank warned on May 23 of major economic risks from drought, which can threaten up to 15 percent of production in the eurozone due to increasing extreme weather caused by climate change.
LeMonde
2 days ago
- LeMonde
In Switzerland, after a glacier collapsed onto Blatten, fear is gripping the mountains
On the still-snowy peaks of the Swiss Alps, the first warm days signaled the start of the snowmelt season, with vibrant spring wildflowers and lush green pastures where cows frolicked . But the idyllic picture ended lower down. The valley floor had been replaced by a monstrous, brown mass: 10 million cubic meters of crushed ice, rock and mud compacted together. The sublime had turned to sinister in a single glance. It all began in mid-May, when a peak called the Petit Nesthorn came under close watch after worrisome movements on its northern face triggered an initial alert. Debris began falling, piling up on the glacier just below, prompting the evacuation of residents and livestock − "as a pure precaution," according to local authorities − while waiting for the mountain to settle. "We will be able to return very soon," said Matthias Bellwald, the mayor of the 300-resident municipality. But "the unthinkable," as people now call it here, has ultimately shattered that easy confidence. It took less than 40 seconds for the Birch Glacier, at 3:30 pm on Wednesday, May 28, to bring an end to the 592 years of existence of the village of Blatten, known as much for the geraniums in the windows of its centuries-old larch chalets as for its resistance to mass tourism. In the Swiss Alpine imagination, already rich with legends, this Lötschental valley (in the canton of Valais, southern Switzerland) occupied a special place − a sort of original, Edenic sanctuary. Now, it holds a far darker distinction: It is the first to surrender a village to the combined forces of geology and a rapidly warming planet.
France 24
4 days ago
- France 24
Swiss glacier collapse underscores urgency of efficient warning systems elsewhere, experts say
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts say. Footage of the May 28 collapse showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside, into the hamlet of Blatten. Ali Neumann, disaster risk reduction advisor to the Swiss Development Cooperation, noted that while the role of climate change in the specific case of Blatten 'still needs to be investigated', the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere – the part of the world covered by frozen water. 'Climate change and its impact on the cryosphere will have growing repercussions on human societies that live near glaciers, near the cryosphere, and depend on glaciers somehow and live with them,' he said. The barrage largely destroyed Blatten, but the evacuation of its 300 residents last week averted mass casualties, although one person remains missing. 'It also showed that with the right skills and observation and management of an emergency, you can significantly reduce the magnitude of this type of disaster,' Neumann said at an international UN-backed glacier conference in Tajikistan. Stefan Uhlenbrook, Director for Hydrology, Water and Cryosphere at the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), said it showed the need for vulnerable regions like the Himalayas and other parts of Asia to prepare. 'From monitoring, to data sharing, to numerical simulation models, to hazard assessment and to communicating that, the whole chain needs to be strengthened,' Uhlenbrook said. 'But in many Asian countries, this is weak, the data is not sufficiently connected.' Need better warning systems Swiss geologists use various methods, including sensors and satellite images, to monitor their glaciers. Asia was the world's most disaster-hit region from climate and weather hazards in 2023, the United Nations said last year, with floods and storms the chief cause of casualties and economic losses. But many Asian nations, particularly in the Himalayas, lack the resources to monitor their vast glaciers to the same degree as the Swiss. According to a 2024 UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction report, two-thirds of countries in the Asia and Pacific region have early warning systems. But the least developed countries, many of whom are in the frontlines of climate change, have the worst coverage. 'Monitoring is not absent, but it is not enough,' said geologist Sudan Bikash Maharjan of the Nepal-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). 'Our terrains and climatic conditions are challenging, but also we lack that level of resources for intensive data generation.' That gap is reflected in the number of disaster-related fatalities for each event. While the average number of fatalities per disaster was 189 globally, in Asia and the Pacific it was much higher at 338, according to the Belgium-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters' Emergency Events Database. Heightened risk of landslides Himalayan glaciers, providing critical water to nearly two billion people, are melting faster than ever before due to climate change, exposing communities to unpredictable and costly disasters, scientists warn. Hundreds of lakes formed from glacial meltwater have appeared in recent decades. They can be deadly when they burst and rush down the valley. The softening of permafrost increases the chances of landslides. Declan Magee, from the Asian Development Bank's Climate Change and Sustainable Development Department, said that monitoring and early warnings alone are not enough. 'We have to think ... about where we build, where people build infrastructure and homes, and how we can decrease their vulnerability if it is exposed,' he said. Nepali climate activist and filmmaker Tashi Lhazom described how the village of Til, near to her home, was devastated by a landslide earlier in May. The 21 families escaped – but only just.
