Swiss Alpine village of Brienz evacuated due to fears of rockslide

An evacuation order was issued for the village of Brienz in the Swiss Alps due to fears of a massive upcoming rockslide.

The village of Brienz is located at an altitude of 1,150 meters and has roughly 80 permanent residents.

Monitoring over the years has shown that the village has been moving a few centimeters each year, with the rate of displacement accelerating over the past 20 years.

However, next to the village is located a massive rock mass, which during those 20 years has been moving at a rate of a meter a year.

It was also noted that the rock mass’ movement seems to be accelerated by climate change, and more specifically by the Alps’ glacier melting faster each year. Namely, in the period between 2021 and 2022, the glacier lost 6% of its volume.

The upcoming rockslide was reported to consist of 2 million cubic meters of rock mass, while expected to occur in the next 24 days.

Christian Gartmann, member of the crisis management board of the municipality, stated that an estimated 60% chance is the rockslide occurring in smaller parts, which would not reach the village. However, there is a 10% estimate of the total 2 million cubic meter mass failing all at once.

Explored solutions consisted of triggering the rockslide by controlled explosion, but placing the explosives was deemed too dangerous due to the imminent landslide. Building a wall or embankment to protect the village was also considered, but it was calculated that it would have to be at least 70 meters high.

The residents were told to evacuate until 6p.m. on Friday.