Swiss village Brienz to be evacuated due to rockslide risk
Brienz was last evacuated in May 2023, when up to 2 million cubic metres of rock threatened to topple from the mountainside above the village.
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Swiss village Brienz to be evacuated due to rockslide risk
The landslide in the upper part of the scree slope above Brienz in eastern Switzerland has accelerated sharply. The municipality of Albula has announced that up to 1.2 million cubic metres of rock could move towards the village. The municipality is preparing a preventive evacuation.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Français
fr
Brienz GR doit se préparer à une nouvelle évacuation
Original
If the moving rock mass reaches high velocity, it could slide past the existing alluvial fan and reach the village. In the interests of safety, the municipality has decided to move to the “yellow phase”. The timing of the evacuation, however, has not yet been determined, authorities said on Saturday.
Measurements by the early warning service have shown that the upper part of the scree has been moving at a rate of sometimes more than 30cm a day since the second half of September.
The situation is expected to calm down, but a rockslide cannot be ruled out, authorities said. It could be triggered by further precipitation, by a rock fall from the top of the scree or by the speed of the slide.
The municipality will brief the population on Saturday evening. Experts in geology and natural hazards, as well as officials from canton Graubünden, will be present.
Huge debris flow in 2023
Brienz was last evacuated in May 2023, when up to 2 million cubic metres of rock threatened to topple from the mountainside above the village.
On the night of June 16, 2023, 1.2 million cubic metres of rock broke away in a huge flow, which stopped just short of the village. At the beginning of July 2023, Brienz residents were able to return to their homes.
In mid-March 2024, a few thousand cubic metres of rock again broke loose above the municipality. The village was spared.
As the plateau, a 5-million m3 stratum of land above the village, slid towards the valley at a rate of 4.3 metres per year, new cracks formed. Parts of the wall have broken away.
In May 2024, heavy rainfall led to an increase in boulder and rock falls from the landslide. But the village was spared.
Translated from French with DeepL/gw
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Multinational companies
Azeri fossil-fuel cash cow brings controversy to Switzerland
Swiss price watchdog slams excessive prices for generic medicines
This content was published on
The cheapest generic medicines available in Switzerland are more than twice as expensive as in other countries, according to a study by the Swiss price watchdog.
Nature should not figure in net zero calculations: academic study
This content was published on
The natural removal of CO2 from the atmosphere by forests or oceans should not be included in the net-zero balance of climate protection measures, argue researchers.
This content was published on
None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.
This content was published on
Nestlé's new CEO Laurent Freixe, has presented plans for the future of the world's largest food company, after his first few weeks in office.
Swiss foreign minister calls on Moscow to end Ukraine war
This content was published on
It's high time Moscow ended its war against Ukraine, Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis tells the UN Security Council.
This content was published on
The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.
Study reveals food culture differences between Switzerland and neighbours
This content was published on
Three-quarters of Swiss people consider eating to be a pleasurable, social activity, a new survey reveals. Healthy eating, however, plays a much less important role, it found.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.