A Swiss village is warned to flee the shifting mountainside

The threat of the mountain above the small Swiss village of Brienz has loomed for centuries.

But state geologists and engineers warned Tuesday that parts of the mountain were dangerously close to collapse. And the 85 or so people living in Brienz and in the path of a possible landslide or mountain collapse were told to evacuate Friday night.

Geological engineers began to closely monitor the situation on the mountain in 2017. In recent weeks, they’ve seen movement accelerate in the more than 70 million cubic feet of dirt and rock that make up the parts of the mountain that could fall.

“Obviously it is a difficult situation, but we are prepared and trained for this,” Peter Beyer, the region’s governor, told affected villagers at a hastily organized community event on Tuesday night. “Even if we hoped that what we were training for would never happen.”

Although scientists say the mountain could come down at any time, they can’t fully predict what will happen, Stefan Schneider, one of the engineers responsible for monitoring the rockslide, told the community Tuesday night.

The most likely scenario is a landslide, with rocks tumbling down the slopes but stopping before reaching the village. Another possibility is that the whole mountainside comes down in one long stream like “syrupy honey,” Mr. Schneider said.

But the most dangerous result, he said, would be the mountainside coming down in one swift event, which could wipe out homes and the village’s church. Some buildings have been standing on this spot for centuries. Mr. Schneider says this is the least likely result.

Unlike many natural disasters in Europe today, this one is not directly linked to climate change, city officials say. The mountainside has been slipping a bit for years, but has recently accelerated.

However, village officials believe that the danger is only temporary and that once the mountain is moved, the village will remain intact. They’ve asked residents to only bring items that insurance can’t replace — such as photo albums or heirlooms — and prepare for weeks or months away from home.

A resident, Renato Liesch, wants quick results, so he prays for rain.

Rain, he says, would make it more likely that the mountain will come down soon so he can get back home.

He has packed his tools, his wooden sculptures, the stamps he collected when he was a boy and the antlers that remind him of his most successful hunting adventures, and he is ready to make the temporary move to his little hunting cabin out of danger. .

Last week, the municipality, which has been keeping residents informed of the situation for years, posted a list of moving companies that residents could use. But no one took advantage of the list until the evacuation was announced Tuesday, said Christian Gartmann, speaking on behalf of the Albula municipality, which includes Brienz and six other villages.

Of Brienz’s 85 official residents, 60 live year-round. (Because of its rural charm, the village’s population increases during the holiday season.) The village works with neighboring towns to find private accommodation nearby.

“No one will have to sleep in a hotel or gym,” said Mr. Gartmann, adding: “That doesn’t exist with us.”

In the medieval church of St. Calixtus, a 500-year-old altar was cleared.

“It sounds easier than it is,” says Simon Berger, who works for the canton’s cultural heritage authority. Preparations for possible evacuations took months, but the authorities wanted to leave the altar in the church until the end. “We left it there as long as possible out of respect for the local population,” said Mr Berger.

Mr. Liesch, who grew up in Brienz, says the fact that the village was under threat for most of his life did not affect him. “We have always subconsciously known that it is a precarious situation,” he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. Still, he said, he never expected to be evacuated.

Now that the time has come, he hopes that his house will be spared. But he admitted that the outcome was not in his hands.

“It’s like a tornado, it goes where it wants whether you get in its way or not,” said Mr. Liesch. “The same with the stones that come down from that mountain: if they land badly, they will destroy my house.”