Swiss Village Remains Evacuated as Huge Rockfall Threatens
21st May 2025
Last modified on May 26th, 2025
300 people in Blatten in the Valais canton remain unable to return to their homes. There have been minor falls and the situation has stablised, but it is still feared a major fall could happen and destroy large parts of the village. UPDATED
An unstable glacier above the Swiss village of Blatten has stopped breaking up, but there is still no question of lifting a landslide alert.
Isolated rockfalls are still happening.
“The feeling that the night was a little quieter is based more on what we heard than on what we saw,” said a spokesman for the Lötschental regional command headquarters to the Keystone-ATS news agency on Friday.
There has been no injuries or damage to infrastructure as yet.
90 people were evacuated over a week ago after numerous small rockfalls above Blatten.
The last Monday the whole village was evacuated, with the exception of two areas, due to the further risk of falling rocks and landslides.
The last major collapse above Blatten occurred last Monday evening when 150,000 to 200,000 cubic metres of rock came loose.
Experts say that up to three million cubic metres of rockfall could come down the mountain.
“Five days ago, nobody would have thought that a mountain that we have admired for years and considered immovable would move,” said the mayor of Blatten, Matthias Bellwald.
It is not clear when people will be allowed back to their homes.
Local official Matthias Ebener told public broadcaster SRF that “the situation is very acute.”
Farm animals have also been moved.
The evacuation of the 26 cows has made international news.
In 2023, residents of the village of Brienz in eastern Switzerland were evacuated before a large rockfall came down a mountainside, stopping just short of the village.
We reported on it at the time on PlanetSKI:
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