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 The valley floor had been replaced by a monstrous, brown mass: 10 million cubic meters of crushed ice, rock and mud compacted together.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.
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Euronews
09-06-2025
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Dozens evacuated in Switzerland's Valais canton following mudslide
Around 30 people were evacuated from their homes in the upper Val de Bagnes in canton Valais in Switzerland after heavy rainfall unleashed a major mudslide. Residents of the village of Les Epenays will be "housed elsewhere for an indefinite period. It depends on nature, it makes the laws," Antoine Schaller, deputy secretary general of the municipality of Val de Bagnes, told local news. The area saw heavy storms last week, after which mud, wood and large stones tore away the temporary emergency bridge in the upper Val de Bagnes, but residents said buildings were spared. "The concern is the volumes coming down. And then there's the detachment zone in the mountain, where an entire section is moving at a rate of about two meters per day," said Pierre-Martin Moulin, General Secretary of Val de Bagnes. It comes just over a week after a landslide cause by a glacier collapse buried most of the Swiss village of Blatten, renewing attention on the increasing dangers of global warming. On 29 May, 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. 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. 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 community. Brienz was evacuated again last year because of the threat of a further rockslide. Frederick Forsyth, the British author of "The Day of the Jackal" and other bestselling thrillers, has died at the age of 86 after a brief illness, his literary agent said on Monday. Jonathan Lloyd, his agent, said Forsyth died at home early Monday surrounded by his family. "We mourn the passing of one of the world's greatest thriller writers," Lloyd said. Born in Kent in 1938, Forsyth served as a Royal Air Force pilot before becoming a foreign correspondent. He covered the attempted assassination of French President Charles de Gaulle in 1962, which provided inspiration for "The Day of the Jackal," his bestselling political thriller about a professional assassin. Published in 1971, the book propelled him into global fame. It was made into a film in 1973 starring Edward Fox as the Jackal and more recently a television series starring Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch. In 2015, Forsyth told the BBC that he had also worked for the British intelligence agency MI6 for many years, starting from when he covered a civil war in Nigeria in the 1960s. Although Forsyth said he did other jobs for the agency, he said he was not paid for his services and "it was hard to say no" to officials seeking information. "The zeitgeist was different," he told the BBC. "The Cold War was very much on." He wrote more than 25 books including "The Afghan," "The Kill List," and "The Dogs of War" that sold over 75 million copies, Lloyd said. His publisher, Bill Scott-Kerr, said that "Revenge of Odessa," a sequel to the 1974 book "The Odessa File" that Forsyth worked on with fellow thriller author Tony Kent, will be published in August. "Still read by millions across the world, Freddie's thrillers define the genre and are still the benchmark to which contemporary writers aspire," Scott-Kerr said.
LeMonde
03-06-2025
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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.
Euronews
30-05-2025
- Euronews
Swiss villages on flood alert after glacier collapse buries Blatten
Authorities in southern Switzerland are on high alert as concerns grow over potential flooding along the Lonza River following the collapse of the Birch Glacier earlier this week. A massive avalanche of rock and ice swept down into the Lötschental valley, burying much of the Alpine village of Blatten under mud and debris. Officials report that 90% of the village has been destroyed. The collapse caused debris to fill the bed of the Lonza River, creating a dam and causing a lake to form upstream. Officials warn that if the dam gives way, the resulting surge could flood communities downstream. Authorities have begun dismantling pedestrian bridges and reinforcing critical infrastructure to prepare for possible flooding in Gampel and residents have been advised to arrange emergency accommodation in case of evacuation. "I didn't sleep last night," one woman told reporters. "We were constantly waiting - if something happens, we have to go." To mitigate the risk, authorities have emptied the Ferden dam downstream, hoping it can absorb some of the potential overflow if there is a breach. The Swiss army has been deployed to the region but is currently unable to conduct ground operations due to ongoing instability. In Blatten, the devastation is extensive. Aerial footage shows homes submerged in thick mud, with roads and structures either buried or swept away. Authorities had evacuated more than 300 people, as well as livestock, from Blatten village as a precaution earlier this month, but one man remains missing following the incident. However, local police say the search and rescue operation has been temporarily suspended because of falling debris. President Karin Keller-Sutter visited the region earlier on Friday.
