The danger is great: 1.2 million cubic meters of rock threaten to fall into the valley and bury the mountain village of Briendz in the canton of Graubünden in the Swiss Alps. The rocks are moving slowly but steadily down the valley at about 25cm per day.

The speed of the landslide can reach up to 80 kilometers per hour or more in case of heavy rain or rock falls, geologist Stefan Schneider told the village’s 90 or so residents at an informational event on Saturday night. At present such a deadly landslide is unlikely, but if it does occur, early warning will be nearly impossible. Residents of Briends should therefore prepare to leave their homes in the coming days and, in the worst case, return after several months.

“Since this morning there has been a feeling of fear, or maybe we should say uncertainty,” admits village resident Arnold von Allem, speaking to Swiss Radio (SRF). On Saturday morning, Swiss authorities informed residents of the danger facing the village via text message, email and the social media platform X.

The landslide in the summer of 2023

Already once in the recent past, in May 2023, residents were forced to leave the mountain village as a precaution. And then there was a risk of rockslides. The area remained cordoned off for several weeks. Shortly thereafter, in June 2023, a huge torrent of rocks and dirt tumbled down the valley, stopping only a few meters from the old school building. The houses in Briends were narrowly escaped. However, meadows and a road were buried under several meters of rock and dirt. However, the residents turned out to be lucky. And so a few weeks later, in July 2023, they returned home.

Today the danger for Briends is greater than in the summer of 2023. Then the landslide occurred in the summer months, during a dry season. Today, however, rocks and soil are soaked with water after this year’s many autumn rains and could therefore penetrate much deeper into the village, geologist Stefan Schneider estimates.

Climate change is not making erosion worse

The village of Briends is built at an altitude of about 1,150 meters and is located near the famous tourist resort of Davos, where the World Economic Forum is held every year. The mountain, which seems to hang over the village, has been moving for several years, as evidenced by cracks in the houses and the leaning of the church bell tower. The ground below the village is sliding towards the valley at a rate of 2.40 meters every year.

An online comment below a Swiss newspaper report on the situation in Brienz notes that climate change is exacerbating erosion. Scientists, however, have a different assessment of the mountain village. Despite the fact that the glacier is constantly shrinking in the Alps as a result of anthropogenic climate change – as geomorphologist Michael Ditsche from the University of Göttingen explained to Swiss radio after the landslide in mid-2023 – this is happening at an altitude of about 3,000 meters. The village of Briends, however, is built at a much lower altitude for this to be the cause of a landslide.

Editor: Stefanos Georgakopoulos