Century Catastrophe in Blaten: Disconnect and Eislawine shakes village!
Century Catastrophe in Blaten: Disconnect and Eislawine shakes village!
in Blatten, an idyllic village in the Lötschental, there were serious natural events last weekend, which significantly impaired the life of people based there. According to Krone , several rock broken off and ice rinks appeared on Saturday, May 24th, 2025, which had also started on Friday evening when the highest point of the little Nesthorn crashed. The situation escalated when an ice and scree avalanche reached the village on Wednesday afternoon.
The evacuation of the village was completed on Monday, around 300 residents had to leave their home sites. Many of them said during the evacuing measures that they included the precautionary measures, even if they were optimistic about the future. The MP Beat Rieder described the incidents as a century disaster and explained that the residents had lost a lot of what they had built up in life, according to Swissinfo .
geological risks and instability
The regional management staff (RFS) Lötschental has found a worrying development of geological activity in the region since the events of Friday evening. In particular, the rock formations on the eastern flank show signs of instability. Between Friday and Saturday, tipping and sliding movements were observed at the base of the glacier, so that the speed of the glacier movement has doubled to about four to four and a half meters a day. This has led to the formation of several cracks on the glacier, which increases the likelihood of partial dropouts.
The situation is particularly critical by a rubble cone that began to form on the glacier and contains an estimated three million cubic meters of rubble. This could potentially endanger the stability of the glacier. In the worst case, there could be a solid glacier abort, in which rubble and ice plunge down the mountain. These aspects illustrate the high danger situation, which can arise as a result of climate change and the geological processes in the region, in accordance with the information on the information on the page of the Federal Office for the Environment .help for the affected residents
In the meantime, aid organizations such as Caritas Switzerland and the Swiss Red Cross have promised quick financial support. A total of 430,000 euros have already been provided for uncovered damage, whereby the sponsorship for mountain communities is planning to provide more than one million euros for the support of the affected residents in Blatten.The present situation is a serious challenge for the community and the government. In view of the fact that the increase and intensity of natural events will increase drastically through climate change, targeted and risk -based spatial planning is crucial in order to prevent such disasters in the future and to ensure the protection of the population.
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| Ort | Blatten, Schweiz |
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