The crumbling rock face threatens the Swiss mountain village of Brienz in canton Graubünden.
Keystone-SDA
On Monday, several small rockfalls occurred above the mountain village of Brienz in southeastern Switzerland. A gully has formed from which more rock is falling and geologists expect the imminent collapse of the plateau above.
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“We expect it to take hours to days, not days to weeks, for the eastern plateau to subside,” Christian Gartmann, communications officer for the municipality of Albula, canton Graubünden, told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Monday. Current rockfalls are still small and pose no danger to the village.
“We expect an accumulation of rockfalls before a major collapse,” Gartmann added. After that, a rockfall with a volume of up to 300,000 cubic metres could occur. This corresponds to the volume of around 300 detached houses.
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The greatest danger for the village is the rock could fall onto the rubble that has amassed below. Together, a total of one million cubic metres of debris could move towards Brienz – either as a so-called debris flow or even as a rock avalanche.
“I have mixed feelings about the situation,” explained the head of the department of infrastructure, energy and mobility, Carmelia Maissen, in an interview with Keystone-SDA.
On the one hand, there is hope that there will be more clarity about future developments on the mountain after a rockfall or landslide, giving the people of Brienz, who have already been evacuated for over a year, more reliable prospects.
On the other hand, there is also the possibility that much will remain unclear afterwards. “We have no choice but to respect the rhythm of nature,” she said.
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Adapted from German by DeepL/sb
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