Long-term return to landslide-threatened Swiss village deemed possible
Life in the Graubünden village of Brienz/Brinzauls in eastern Switzerland, which was threatened by a landslide, seems possible again in the long term. According to experts, the danger has changed in such a way that there will be no more long evacuations in the coming years.
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The last time the population was evacuated was for 62 weeks.
There were two reasons for this, geologist Reto Thöny told those affected on Thursday evening. One was the success of the drainage tunnel and the other was the rockfall last November.
+ Residents of Swiss landslide village go home after more than a year
Nevertheless, the responsible municipality of Albula is sticking to the resettlement project. The authorities want to give those affected a new time window until March 9 to register for preventive resettlement.
Around a third of the total population have already done so. However, they now have the option of cancelling the procedure due to the new risk situation, emphasised Roland Tremp from the resettlement project group. Resettlement comes at a price: those affected will have to have their old houses in Brienz/Brinzauls demolished.
Adapted from German by AI/ts
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