Latest news with #RadioTélévisionSuisse
Epoch Times
3 days ago
- Climate
- Epoch Times
Search Suspended for Missing Man in Swiss Glacier Collapse That Destroyed 90 Percent of an Alpine Village
GENEVA—The search for a missing 64-year-old man was suspended Thursday because of unsafe conditions after a huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier crashed down a Swiss mountainside the day before. The landslide sent plumes of dust skyward and coated with mud nearly all of an Alpine village that authorities had evacuated earlier this month as a precaution. State Councilor Stéphane Ganzer told Radio Télévision Suisse that 90 percent of the village was destroyed.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Swiss Village Devastated By Glacier Collapse
A massive landslide triggered by the collapse of a glacier buried much of the Alpine village of Blatten in Switzerland's Lötschental valley on Wednesday, destroying 90% of the town and leaving a 64-year-old man missing, authorities said. Search-and-rescue efforts were suspended Thursday due to unstable debris as the region grapples with the aftermath of what glaciologists describe as a climate-driven disaster. The collapse of a large chunk of the Birch Glacier, located above Blatten, sent ice, rock, and mud crashing down the mountainside, flattening homes and submerging buildings in brownish sludge, according to video footage and satellite images. The debris also blocked the Lonza River, causing whatever buildings were left standing to be flooded by the backup of the river. State Councilor Stéphane Ganzer told Radio Télévision Suisse that the disaster obliterated nearly the entire village. Bethan Davies, a glaciology professor at Newcastle University, described the event to ABC News as a 'cascading disaster.' The glacier had been destabilized since last week when millions of pounds of rock debris fell onto its surface. Warm temperatures on Monday exacerbated the instability, accelerating the collapse. 'This is a marked acceleration,' Davies said. 'Lots of cracks started to form, a sign of the tension in the ice.' Authorities evacuated about 300 residents and livestock earlier this month after observing increased glacier melt and debris flow, a precaution that likely saved lives. Mathieu Morlighem, a glaciologist at Dartmouth College, told ABC News the collapse was likely caused by thawing permafrost, which acts as 'glue' to stabilize mountain rock. 'What happened to Birch Glacier is what we would expect from rising temperatures in the Alps and elsewhere,' Morlighem said, comparing it to a 2023 landslide in Switzerland's Silvretta Alps but noting Birch Glacier's larger scale due to excessive ice and meltwater. One resident told Reuters she 'lost everything' in the mudslide, while another said, 'You can't tell that there was ever a settlement there.' Werner Bellwald, a resident of the nearby hamlet of Ried, said the landslide wiped out his 1654-built generational family home. The Cantonal Police of Valais halted search efforts for the missing man Thursday afternoon, citing falling debris. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter is scheduled to visit the area on Friday. Glaciologists link the disaster to climate change, which has accelerated glacier retreat in Switzerland. The country, home to Europe's most glaciers, lost 4% of its glacier volume in 2023, following a record 6% in 2022, The Washington Post reported. Average temperatures in the Swiss Alps have risen 3 degrees Celsius since the 1970s, said Daniel Farinotti, a glaciologist at ETH Zurich, who warned in March, 'Switzerland's glaciers could vanish completely by 2100.' A 2024 International Cryosphere Climate Initiative report predicts one-third of European Alps glaciers will disappear by 2050, even without further warming. Davies noted that warming climates increase mountain landslides by melting permafrost and altering freeze-thaw cycles. Sridhar Anandakrishnan, a glaciologist at Pennsylvania State University, told ABC News that glacial degradation can also form unstable lakes, as seen in the Himalayas and Andes. The Blatten disaster underscores the growing risks to Alpine communities. Glacierologists are urging further study of climate-driven glacier instability to prevent future catastrophes.
Mint
4 days ago
- Climate
- Mint
'I lost everything': Swiss glacier collapse leaves residents in shock, destroys 90% of Alpine village — key points
A huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier crashed down a Swiss mountainside on Wednesday, destroying almost 90 per cent of an Alpine village, reported AFP. On Thursday, following the massive glacier collapse, Swiss authorities were monitoring the southern valley for possible flood risk. According to the report, the Birch glacier in Switzerland's southern Wallis region collapsed, sending tons of rock, ice, and scree hurtling down the mountain slope and the valley below. State Councillor Stéphane Ganzer told Radio Télévision Suisse that 90 per cent of the village was destroyed. "I don't want to talk just now, I lost everything yesterday. I hope you understand," Reuters quoted a middle-aged woman from Blatten as saying as she sat alone disconsolately in front of a church in the neighbouring village of Wiler. The hamlet of Blatten, home to 300 people, was destroyed in the glacier crash. The report added that it was evacuated last week due to the impending danger. Citing the condition, authorities declared a local state of emergency after monitoring the situation. Huge glacier debris stretched some two kilometres and blocked the River Lonza. "There is a serious risk of an ice jam that could flood the valley below," Antoine Jacquod, a military security official, told the Keystone-ATS news agency, as AFP quoted. "We're going to try to assess its dimensions today," added Jacquod. On Wednesday evening, the authorities evacuated 16 people from two villages located downstream from the disaster area. The Swiss Army is closely monitoring the situation, but experts warned of the risks of flooding as vast mounds of debris are clogging the path of the River Lonza. In another update, the road that ran along the valley is covered with a mass of mud and debris. Only a few roofs poked up through the sea of sludge. Also, a thin cloud of dust hung in the air over Kleines Nesthorn Mountain, where the rockslide occurred. AFP quoted Christian Huggel, a professor of environment and climate at the University of Zurich, as saying that up to one million cubic metres of water are accumulating daily as a result of the debris damming up the river Lonzo. The Valais cantonal government has meanwhile asked the army to provide clearing equipment and pumps to secure the riverbed. However, authorities would need to make more arrangements if they consider evacuating the valley, as the water may overflow from the dam. Though an artificial dam was preemptively emptied to receive the water pushed back by the wall of ice, earth, and rubble, experts say it may not hold the danger for long. "The deposit ... is not very stable, and debris flow is possible within the deposit itself (which) makes any intervention in the disaster area impossible for the time being," cantonal authorities stated. A YouTube video showed the collapse of a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside, which Swiss monitoring stations registered as a seismic event. Said Raphael Mayoraz, a cantonal official in charge of natural hazard management, "Three million cubic metres of rock fell suddenly onto the glacier, carrying it with them down into the valley." "It's like a mountain, and of course, it creates a small lake that gets bigger and bigger," he added. A 64-year-old man remained missing on Thursday. The Cantonal Police of Valais said that a search and rescue operation was underway for the man. The police are also using a drone with a thermal camera. Head of the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS), Matthias Huss, had pointed to the influence of climate change in loosening the rock mass in the permafrost zone. "Unexpected things happen at places that we have not seen for hundreds of years, most probably due to climate change," he told Reuters. In 2022 and 2023, the Swiss glaciers were severely impacted by climate change and melted, just like between 1960 and 1990, when they lost about 10 per cent of their volume.
Euronews
4 days ago
- Climate
- Euronews
Search suspended for missing man after landslide buries Swiss village
The search for a missing 64-year-old man has been suspended because of unsafe conditions after a huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier crashed down a mountainside in Switzerland, burying the village of Glatten. The landslide sent plumes of dust skyward and coated with nearly all of the Alpine village with mud that authorities had evacuated earlier this month as a precaution. State Councillor Stéphane Ganzer told Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) that 90% of the village was destroyed. The Cantonal Police of Valais said that a search and rescue operation was temporarily suspended later on Thursday afternoon because of falling debris. The regional government said in a statement that a large chunk of the Birch Glacier above the village had broken off, causing the landslide, which also buried the nearby Lonza River bed, raising the possibility of dammed water flows. Video on social media and Swiss television showed that the mudslide near Blatten, in the southern Lötschental valley, partially submerged homes and other buildings under a mass of brownish sludge. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter is expected to visit the area on Friday. In recent days, authorities had ordered the evacuation of around 300 people, as well as all livestock, from the village amid fears that the 1.5 million-cubic metre glacier was at risk of collapse. Swiss glaciologists have repeatedly expressed concerns about a thaw in recent years, attributed in large part to global warming, that has accelerated the retreat of glaciers in Switzerland. The landlocked Alpine country has the most glaciers of any country in Europe and saw 4% of its total glacier volume disappear in 2023. That was the second-biggest decline in a single year after a 6% drop in 2022. A driver who injured nearly 80 people when his car ploughed into a crowd of football fans in central Liverpool who were celebrating their team's Premier League win has been charged with intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and six other serious counts, a prosecutor has said. Paul Doyle, 53, was also charged with dangerous driving and five other counts alleging different variations of causing grievous bodily harm, Prosecutor Sarah Hammond said. Police said 79 people were injured in the attack, with at least 50 treated at hospitals. They ranged in age from nine to 78. Seven people remain in hospital in a stable condition. The charges did not indicate how many victims the counts were tied to and Hammond and Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims of Merseyside Police did not take questions in a brief news conference in Liverpool. "I fully understand how this incident has left us all shocked and saddened and I know many will continue to have concerns and questions," Sims said. "Our detectives are working tirelessly, with diligence and professionalism to seek the answer to all of those questions." The city had been celebrating Liverpool's record-tying 20th title when the driver turned down a street full of fans and joy quickly turned to tragedy. Police said they believed Doyle dodged a road block by tailing an ambulance responding to a report of a person in cardiac arrest. Eyewitness video showed scenes of horror as the car struck and tossed a person in the air who was draped in a Liverpool flag and then swerved into a sea of people packed on the side of the road. Merseyside Police said the driver was believed to have acted alone and they did not suspect terrorism.
Mint
4 days ago
- Climate
- Mint
'I lost everything': Swiss glacier collapse leaves residents in shock, destroys 90% of Alpine village
A huge mass of rock and ice from a glacier crashed down a Swiss mountainside on Wednesday, destroying almost 90 per cent of an Alpine village, reported AFP. This has sparked a flood risk among the authorities and residents. According to the report, the Birch glacier in Switzerland's southern Wallis region collapsed, sending tons of rock, ice, and scree hurtling down the mountain slope and the valley below. State Councilor Stéphane Ganzer told Radio Télévision Suisse that 90 per cent of the village was destroyed. "I don't want to talk just now, I lost everything yesterday. I hope you understand," Reuters quoted a middle-aged woman from Blatten as saying as she sat alone disconsolately in front of a church in the neighbouring village of Wiler. The hamlet of Blatten, home to 300 people, was destroyed in the glacier crash. The report added that it was evacuated last week due to the impending danger. Citing the condition, authorities declared a local state of emergency after monitoring the situation. Huge glacier debris stretched some two kilometres (1.25 miles) and blocked the River Lonza. "There is a serious risk of an ice jam that could flood the valley below," Antoine Jacquod, a military security official, told the Keystone-ATS news agency, as AFP quoted. "We're going to try to assess its dimensions today," added Jacquod. On Wednesday evening, the authorities evacuated 16 people from two villages located downstream from the disaster area. The Swiss Army is closely monitoring the situation, but experts warned of the risks of flooding as vast mounds of debris almost two kilometers across are clogging the path of the River Lonza. In another update, the road that ran along the valley is covered with a mass of mud and debris. Only a few roofs poked up through the sea of sludge. Also, a thin cloud of dust hung in the air over Kleines Nesthorn Mountain, where the rockslide occurred. AFP quoted Christian Huggel, a professor of environment and climate at the University of Zurich, as saying that up to one million cubic meters of water are accumulating daily as a result of the debris damming up the river Lonzo. The Valais cantonal government has meanwhile asked the army to provide clearing equipment and pumps to secure the riverbed. However, authorities would need to make more arrangements if they consider evacuating the valley, as the water may overflow from the dam. Though an artificial dam was preemptively emptied to receive the water pushed back by the wall of ice, earth, and rubble, experts say it may not hold the danger for long. "The deposit ... is not very stable, and debris flow is possible within the deposit itself (which) makes any intervention in the disaster area impossible for the time being," cantonal authorities stated. A YouTube video showed the collapse of a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside, which Swiss monitoring stations registered as a seismic event. As per cantonal official in charge of natural hazard management, Raphael Mayoraz, as quoted by AFP, "Three million cubic metres of rock fell suddenly onto the glacier, carrying it with them" down into the valley." "It's like a mountain, and of course, it creates a small lake that gets bigger and bigger," he added. A 64-year-old man remained missing on Thursday amid the situation in the Swiss mountainside faces a havoc. The Cantonal Police of Valais said that a search and rescue operation was underway for the man. The police are also using a drone with a thermal camera. Head of the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS), Matthias Huss, had pointed to the influence of climate change in loosening the rock mass in the permafrost zone. "Unexpected things happen at places that we have not seen for hundreds of years, most probably due to climate change," he told Reuters. In 2022 and 2023, the Swiss glaciers were severely impacted by climate change and melted, just like between 1960 and 1990, when they lost about 10 percent of their volume. Earlier in August 2017, around 3.1 million cubic meters of rock fell from Pizzo Cengalo, a mountain in the Alps in Graubuenden canton. The incident near the Italian border killed eight hikers.
