Images show how a Swiss Alps village narrowly escaped being wiped out by a massive rockslide that missed 'by a hair'

Isobel van Hagen
Updated ·2 min read
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Picture taken on June 16, 2023 shows a view of Brienz, far-eastern Switzerland after a massive landslide that spared the village
Picture taken on June 16, 2023 shows a view of Brienz, far-eastern Switzerland after a massive landslide that spared the villageARND WIEGMANN/AFP via Getty Images

  • A large rockslide narrowly missed a tiny town in Switzerland, authorities said Friday.

  • The village of Brienz, which has less than a hundred residents, had previously been evacuated.

  • Some 50 million cubic feet of rock appears to have come down the slope on Thursday night.

An enormous rockslide narrowly missed a picturesque and tiny mountain village in Switzerland that had been evacuated last month due to the threat of rockfall.

Late on Thursday evening, rocks came tumbling down the collapsing Alpine mountainside and stopped just short of the settlement of fewer than 100 residents — only just leaving the settlement unharmed.

Somewhere between 42.4 and 53 million cubic feet of rock appears to have come down the slope on Thursday night, geologist Stefan Schneider said at a news conference, the Associated Press reported.

The rock missed the vacated village of Brienz, in eastern Switzerland, "by a hair," local authorities said in a statement, per The Guardian.

A Swiss village evacuated because of rockslide danger was spared "by a hair" when part of the mountain towering above the hamlet crashed down overnight, local officials said on June 16, 2023.
A Swiss village evacuated because of rockslide danger was spared "by a hair" when part of the mountain towering above the hamlet crashed down overnight, local officials said on June 16, 2023.ARND WIEGMANN/AFP via Getty Images

"There is no indication of damage in the village, with the rocks mass having stopped just in front of the village," the statement said.

Rubble from the rockslide was nearly 40 feet deep, and an access road was completely buried under the debris, Christian Gartmann, a spokesman for the community, said on Friday.

"We are working on the assumption that this was not yet the end of it," he told local media, The Guardian reported.

Even so, local authorities were relieved with the outcome and said residents would likely be able to return.

"We can say that today is one of the best days since the evacuation," Daniel Albertin, the head of the local council, said, per the AP.

View of Brienz after a massive landslide that spared the village.
View of Brienz after a massive landslide that spared the village.ARND WIEGMANN/AFP via Getty Images

Albertin said that a "great deal" of the mountain had come down, and yet nothing in the village was damaged, and no one was hurt.

Villagers will have to be "a bit patient," however, as authorities have to carry out "further evaluations before we can give them enough security to be able to move back to their village and continue living or working there," he added.

There is a growing risk of natural hazards in the country due to climate change, Swiss authorities said, including an increase in erosion because of higher temperatures, per Reuters.

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