Glacier root in the Valais: Dorf Blatten buried under rubble and ice masses

Glacier root in the Valais: Dorf Blatten buried under rubble and ice masses

Blatten, Schweiz - in Valais, Switzerland, a natural disaster has accepted dramatic proportions: on May 28, the evacuated village of Blatten was almost completely buried by scree and ice mass. According to the reporting of Tagblatt have been spilled over 130 houses.

The trigger of these frightening events was a glacier root, which was caused by a landlord on the small nesthorn due to increasing pressure on the ice mass. The small Nesthorn rises majestically to about 3,800 meters and the landslide caused a massive rubble cone with a thickness of 50 to 200 meters.

evacuation and flooding

BLATEN was evacuated in the previous week, and about 300 inhabitants had to leave their houses. One person is currently still missing, so far there are no information on other possible victims. Matthias Bellwald, the mayor, describes the situation as "unimaginable", but still optimistically gives a prospect of reconstruction. The watercourses, including the Lonza and the Dorfbach Gisentella, traffic jams in front of the rubble cone, which is a potential danger to the valley. The Lonza River has currently flooded a large part of the village.

Natural danger expert Raphaël Mayoraz describes the catastrophe as historically "unexplored". The threat to the valley remains because the water outflow has only started. Although the danger of a male (landslide stream) on the Lonza is currently being unlimited, further evacuations and floods cannot be excluded.

reactions and support

Nature has shown in the past few days what strength it can develop. As The Standard remains hoped that the efforts to eliminate the consequences of this disaster will soon and effectively go back to their home.