Landslide-hit Swiss village to be rebuilt within five years

Blatten VS to be rebuilt in three to five years Keystone-SDA

The Swiss village of Blatten, which was decimated by a landslide, is to be rebuilt in three to five years, the municipal authorities have pledged.

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At a general meeting of the municipality of Blatten on Thursday evening, the authorities presented the provisional timetable for the reconstruction.

In the gymnasium in Wiler, president Matthias Bellwald said there are two hamlets that could be developed into the new Blatten. In the hamlets of Eisten and Weissenried as well as the village centre of Blatten, the village is to be rebuilt in the next phase.

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There will also be a road, village square and church. For young people, this will then be the old Blatten, said Bellwald. According to reports by Swiss pöublic broadcaster SRF, the new Blatten should be ready in three to five years.

The hazard map is currently intact and the project was developed on this basis, Bellwald told the Walliser Boten newspaper. The cantonal road and the basic infrastructure are to be restored quickly. He is very optimistic that the chosen path can be pursued quickly.

Bellwald told the Luzerner Zeitung newspaper that people had taken the message very well: “This lays the foundation stone that, when we return, we have to get something up and running quickly and ask ourselves specifically where we can do this.” Things must now move forward quickly.

According to reports, the architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron has visualised the reconstruction plans. The hamlets of Eisten, Weissenried and Gassen should be reconnected to the electricity, water and sewage network by spring 2026. The settlement phase should then begin in 2027.

As was announced on Thursday, the mountain village, which was largely buried by a landslide, will receive emergency aid totalling CHF5 million from the federal government.

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Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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