Blatten (VS): the Council of State declares the situation special
Keystone-SDA
A gigantic avalanche of ice, mud and debris has buried a large part of the village of Blatten in Lötschental in Canton Valais after a major glacier collapsed on Wednesday afternoon. Numerous houses were destroyed. No people were injured.
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A large section of the Birch Glacier below the landslide area, which was at risk of falling, broke off in one go at around 3:30pm on Wednesday afternoon. The glacier collapse caused an earthquake measuring 3.1 on the Richter scale.
Videos posted on social media and Swiss public broadcaster SRFExternal link show the glacier collapsing and masses of debris rolling towards the valley at breathtaking speed, accompanied by a huge cloud of dust.
On Wednesday morning, the local government in Canton Valais had already declared the Lötschental to be in a “special situation”. The authorities said this measure would ensure they could “react as quickly as possible, if necessary mobilising several large-scale intervention resources (cantonal control body, civil protection, even the army) as soon as necessary”, it explained in a press release.
Increased activity
A significant increase in activity was observed on the glacier during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
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At around 4am on Wednesday morning, a major collapse occurred, “comparable to the collapse of the glacier on Tuesday at around 6pm”, Fernando Lehner, a member of the Lötschental regional staff, confirmed to Keystone-ATS. In both cases, the debris of ice, rock and snow did not reach the village of Blatten, but slid down to an avalanche barrier.
On Tuesday evening, the rubble stopped 400 metres from the first houses. Some of it reached the Lonza river on Wednesday morning.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp
This story was updated on Wednesday afternoon after a huge section of the glacier broke off.
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