Swiss villagers told to get ready to evacuate after Alpine rockslide alert -- again

GENEVA -- Authorities in eastern Switzerland on Saturday ordered residents of a tiny village to prepare to evacuate as an Alpine rockslide looming overhead threatened to break loose and spill down on their homes.

It was the second time that residents of Brienz received evacuation orders after a similar threat last summer.

Local officials said in a statement to villagers that “high above Brienz, the top part of the the uppermost part of the rubble pile has accelerated considerably. It cannot be ruled out that up to 1.2 million cubic meters of rock debris will be moving moving down the valley in a stream of debris.”

Measurements taken by the municipality’s early warning service showed that the top of the rubble pile has been moving at a rate of more than 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) per day at times since the second half of September, the SRF public broadcaster reported.

They said that if the rockslide starts accelerating it could soon reach the village.

The centuries-old village straddles German- and Romansch-speaking parts of the eastern Graubuenden region, sitting southwest of Davos at an altitude of about 1,150 meters (about 3,800 feet). Today it has under 100 residents.

The mountain and the rocks on it have been moving since the last Ice Age, local officials say.

Over the last century, the village itself has moved a few centimeters (inches) each year, but the movement sped up over the last 20 years. The landslide has been moving about a meter (about 3 feet) per year.