Swiss village buried by landslide too risky to rebuild entirely

70 per cent of Blatten VS unbuildable according to the new natural hazard map Keystone-SDA

Five and a half months after the landslide in the village of Blatten in the canton of Valais has adjusted its natural hazard map. The hamlet of Ried cannot be rebuilt, and 70% of the municipality of Blatten in the Lötschental is in the red hazard zone, which cannot be built on.

The landslide on May 28 fundamentally changed the situation with regard to natural hazards in the settlement of Blatten and in particular in the former village centre and Ried, according to a statement from the Valais State Chancellery on Friday. On the basis of the revised hazard maps, the municipality in Upper Valais can begin to revise its land-use planning.

These revised hazard maps include all gravitational natural hazards such as flooding and bank erosion, debris flows, landslides, rock and rockfalls, falling rocks and boulders, avalanches and other hazards such as impulse waves and glacier collapses. Process chains were also analysed, such as a landslide or a debris flow with backwatering of the River Lonza.

Adapted from German by DeepL/ac

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