Swiss village missed by stone chips “a hair’s breadth”

The Swiss village of Brienz was narrowly missed by the collapse of a nearby mountain, authorities said on Friday.

The massive landslide missed Brienz, in the east of the country, “by a hair,” they reported.

The event was expected and to avoid any casualties, the village was evacuated, having removed its 84 residents on May 12, after authorities warned of the instability of the Insel peak, an instability that resulted in a slide of more than 1.5 million tons of rock before midnight on Thursday.

Early Friday morning, local authorities inspected the damage and were relieved that they had nothing to add.

“There are no signs of damage to the village as the landslide stopped just outside Brienz,” they said in a statement.

According to geologist Stefan Schneider, head of the early warning service in the canton of Graubünden, between 1.5 and 1.9 million cubic meters of rock came loose.

The geologist told journalists on Friday that the rocks had toppled the trees as if they were just matchsticks and destroyed a small hut a little above Brienz.

But there was no risk of the landslide reaching the village, he said.

“Villa security is not guaranteed”

After the slip, authorities raised the high alert level around noon on Friday, making it possible to reach nearby villages from Brienz by train or road. But this does not allow the return of the villagers to their homes, which are housed in temporary housing, which means they will have to wait a little longer before returning.

“The safety of the village is not guaranteed,” Andreas Huwiler, the geologist from the canton of Graubünden, told reporters.

“We have to monitor the movement of the collapsed rock mass in the coming days. It can change, for example, in case of rain,” says Huwiler.

And he soothed the “affected” by saying there is a “high chance” that everyone can go home.

“This is one of the best days since the evacuation of residents,” said Daniel Albertin, head of the executive branch of the municipality of Albula, which also includes Brienz.

While the inhabitants were spared, the landslide forced the cycling race Tour of Switzerland, to shorten the stage of this Friday’s race, which was due to take place just below the village.

The stage was eventually declared void following news of the death of Swiss cyclist Gino Maeder, who fell from a ravine on Thursday.