Many residents in Switzerland pack up their cars, trucks and pickups before an evacuation order goes into effect on Friday in a small village in eastern Switzerland. The reason is that this village is facing an urgent landslide threat.
Before that, a team of geologists and experts carried out the survey and believe that this centuries-old village of Brienz will soon be buried under the rock. The small village is currently home to less than 100 residents, but some tourists visit for its scenic beauty.
Close-up of the landslide area.
Erosion over the generations has left the mountainside barren, grey-white, exposed soil and rock, many rocks have also plunged beneath the verdant valley.
Residents can feel a variety of warning signs, such as the shaking of the ground, the terrifying sound of rocks clashing, and tree trunks and soil sliding down the mountainside. The situation has become more urgent than ever and forced people to evacuate.
Earlier, authorities raised the danger warning to “orange”.
That is, people had to leave at that time, but can still return to get their belongings if conditions permit.
That means the authorities will not allow residents to return for the foreseeable future, said Christian Gartmann, a member of the crisis management team in the town of Albula, to which the village of Brienz belongs.
Officials say the mountain and the rocks on its slopes have been active since the last Ice Age.
But on May 9 last week, they said measurements showed “strong acceleration over a large area” in recent days and that “up to 2 million cubic meters of rock will collapse or landslide. within the next 7 to 24 days”.
Part of the reason for landslides is because glaciers melt, making the rocky terrain unstable .