Huge rocks and ice from the glacier slammed a thunderstorm on Wednesday on Switzerland, smearing a dust plume into the sky, smearing almost every village in the alpine village that authorities had evacuated as a precaution earlier this month.
Social media and Swiss TV videos show a landslide near Bratten in the Southern Roccental Valley that partially submerged houses and buildings under chunks of brownish sludge. Regional police said the 64-year-old man was reported missing and there was an ongoing search and rescue operation, including a drone with thermal cameras.
“At this point, all I can tell you is that about 90% of the village is covered or destroyed. So this is a major catastrophe that took place here in Bratten,” Stephen Ganzer, security director for the South Valley region, told local television channel Canal9.
The local government said in a statement that much of the White-ch Glacier above the village had been broken, filling nearby Lonza riverbeds, causing landslides, increasing the likelihood of damned water flow.
“There’s a risk that the situation could get worse,” Ganzer said.
He said the army was mobilized after previous signs that the glacier was moving faster.
At a press conference, Swiss Environment Minister Albert Rosty lamented the “extraordinary event” and said the government would take steps to help the villagers who have lost their homes.
Recently, authorities had ordered the evacuation of about 300 people and all livestock from the village amid fears that the glaciers were at risk of collapse.
Jonas Jeitziner, a spokesman for the Lötschental Crisis Center, was deployed across the helicopters and across the region to assess the damage by local authorities.
Swiss glaciologists have repeatedly expressed concern about melting caused by global warming, which has accelerated the retreat of Swiss glaciers, primarily due to global warming.
The inland alpine country has the most glaciers of all European countries, and in 2023, 4% of the total glaciers disappeared. This was the second largest decline in the year, falling 6% in 2022.
In 2023, residents of the village of Brienz in eastern Switzerland were evacuated before rocks slipped down the mountainside and stopped just below the community. Brienz was evacuated again last year due to the threat of further rock slips.
Keaten wrote in the Associated Press.
