"Blocks as big as garages" - Swiss mountain village threatened by massive rock fall
Created: 07/11/2022, 21:53
By: Christoph Gschossmann
Kandersteg: A village right in the Swiss Alps.
An idyll that could be destroyed by a rock fall.
© Picture aliiiance/epa Keystone Lukas Lehmann
The clock is ticking.
At some point the Swiss mountain village of Kandersteg will probably be torn from its idyll - when the "Spitze Stein" falls.
Kandersteg / Munich - A Swiss mountain idyll that could hardly be more beautiful - it could be completely destroyed from one day to the next.
The just over 1200 villagers live with a sword of Damocles over their heads: the "pointed stone".
Kandersteg/Switzerland: "The situation is becoming more critical from year to year"
The rock formation is above the village - and moving.
Geologist Jörg Häberle, who also inspected the area from above by helicopter, explains to
Euronews
: “ The rock is already slipping.
You can clearly see the loose debris.
Sometimes it's whole boulders that slide down - the size of garages."
"The current development makes us suspect that there will be a major demolition at some point," said Nils Hählen, head of the natural hazards department in the canton of Bern, to the
SRF
.
He says: "The situation will probably not relax - it is becoming more critical from year to year."
The experts keep a close eye on the rock.
Dozens of sensors report when he moves.
He has been doing this constantly in recent years, namely several meters every year, which was a record in the Alps.
Kandersteg: Parts of the rock have already broken off
Parts of the rock have already broken off near Lake Oeschinen.
The reason for the movements around the community is probably climate change: the stability of the permafrost is decreasing and the glaciers are melting.
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And if the catastrophe really happens?
Then the villagers don't have much time.
If there is movement, a warning is sent via SMS.
Then people have around 48 hours to evacuate.
(cg)
It will be oppressively hot in Germany from the weekend.
But will the temperature records also fall?
And how long does the heat last?
