Switzerland Debates Where to Rebuild Alpine Village Buried by Landslide
Site where Blattentown was located, June 2025. X/ @ChrisKarlKnecht
June 9, 2025 Hour: 11:13 am
The entire valley of the Lonza River has been classified as a maximum-risk natural disaster zone.
Days after a landslide of earth, mud and rocks buried the village of Blatten in the Swiss Alps, the question is emerging of where to rebuild the community for the 300 residents who lost their homes — a complex issue due to the hazardous nature of the affected valley.
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On Monday, RTS reported that nearly the entire valley of the Lonza River — where the disaster occurred on May 28 — is classified as a maximum-risk natural disaster zone, and most of the few areas not under threat are already developed.
Swiss Minister of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications Albert Rösti said last week that no construction will be allowed in maximum-risk zones, despite the fact that other areas in the same canton of Valais have seen building in similarly classified locations.
Experts also note that construction in hazardous areas may be possible if protective measures against avalanches are put in place, as was done a quarter-century ago in the village of Gondo, also in Valais. That village was devastated by a landslide in 2000 that claimed 13 lives.
Gondo was rebuilt thanks to 50 million Swiss francs (US$53 million) in funds raised by the national humanitarian organization Swiss Solidarity. Today, the village is home to 75 people.
Blatten was buried under more than 3.5 million cubic meters of earth and rocks, 10 days after residents had been evacuated. One resident — a 64-year-old man — remains missing after the disaster.
Several experts have warned that the case of Blatten is a wake-up call about the consequences of climate change in mountain regions, where areas previously considered safe could become unstable in the coming years.
The collapse of the Birch Glacier, which triggered the natural disaster, is one of many signs of glacial retreat in the Swiss Alps. In just two years, the region has lost 10% of its glacial water mass, according to data from the World Meteorological Organization.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
