 Poster: A snowHead
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A very good summary and images…and very scary.
I recall being astonished after driving past a lake created by a huge landslide in the late 1980s. It was not far from Bormio and cut off that area by main road, from the Italian side, for a few months I think.
This Blatten one looks to be on a much bigger and more destructive scale. Hope the villages further down the valley escape harm.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Now it’s been a few days since the Blatten disaster – geologists have had time to examine the site, and the conclusion is that the result is actually worse than the predicted worst-case scenario.
The debris field extends beyond the prediction – by as much as several hundred meters.
Walter Wildi, professor of Geology at the University of Geneva, told the press that the miscalculation may be due to the fact it wasn’t a landslide at such – but a glacier collapse, which wasn’t considered.
He says glacial mass is far harder to predict and scientists have far less experience.
Meanwhile, hope is fading for a 64-year-old shepherd in Blatten.
Known as Toni, he’s been missing since the rockslide on Wednesday. It’s thought he was in his barn with his animals. The barn was 300 meters outside the evacuation zone.
He looked after around 100 white Alpine sheep. They were regularly put in competition. Locals say he was kind and quiet – but did enjoy the company of his friends.
It’s now highly likely Toni will be the only victim of the disaster.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Another Swiss village partially evacuated, Around 30 residents evacuated from Val de Bagnes in canton Valais
Around 30 residents were evacuated on Sunday in the upper Val de Bagnes in canton Valais due to heavy rainfall. People from Les Epenays, a village near Lourtier, were affected.
These residents will be “housed elsewhere for an indefinite period. It depends on nature, it makes the laws”, Antoine Schaller, deputy secretary general of the municipality of Val de Bagnes, told the Keystone-SDA news agency. Two farms in Fregnoley were also evacuated.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Alastair Pink, there was a very big slide just near there last summer.
A friend of ours only just evacuated in time, but her house, farm buildings , some animals etc were totally buried and will now never be uncovered.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@rungsp, 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hope they were insured
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@robs1, yes....but when you've utterly lost :
House
Farm buildings
All machinery
Farm dogs and other pets
Some livestock
100% of your personal possessions
75% of your farmland (buried deeply by gravel and rocks, it will never be farmland again).
The family had the clothes they stood up in, a car and a laptop.
OMG it must be hard.
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| rungsp wrote: |
@robs1, yes....but when you've utterly lost :
House
Farm buildings
All machinery
Farm dogs and other pets
Some livestock
100% of your personal possessions
75% of your farmland (buried deeply by gravel and rocks, it will never be farmland again).
The family had the clothes they stood up in, a car and a laptop.
OMG it must be hard. |
Yes it's terrible for them,and as a farmer I understand their feelings, losing animals that you have spent years breeding families from is extremely hard especially in those circumstances, money doesn't solve that but does help replacing the material things.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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The odds must be slim to vanishing that they are insured for the value of the land that (to all intents and purposes) no longer exists.
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| James the Last wrote: |
| The odds must be slim to vanishing that they are insured for the value of the land that (to all intents and purposes) no longer exists. |
To be pedantic it still exists but not in the way it did, if the authorities forced them to evacuate then you would expect them to pay some form of compensation or allow them back, if they wanted too of course. Most swiss farms would be pretty small and their house and buildings would be insured, possibly the insurers might claim act of god to get out of paying though
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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From earlier in the thread
BobinCH wrote
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In Switzerland, damage to buildings and businesses caused by natural disasters like landslides is typically covered under standard building insurance policies. This coverage falls under “natural hazards” (Elementarschäden), which includes events such as floods, storms, avalanches, rockfalls, and landslides.
In most Swiss cantons, building insurance is mandatory and provided by cantonal insurance institutions. However, in the GUSTAVO cantons—Geneva, Uri, Schwyz, Ticino, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Valais, and Obwalden—building insurance is not mandatory, and property owners must obtain coverage through private insurers.
Specifically, in Valais, where Blatten is located, building insurance is not compulsory. Therefore, coverage depends on whether property owners had voluntarily secured private building insurance that includes natural hazard protection. If such insurance was in place, damages from natural disasters like landslides would generally be covered. However, without this insurance, property owners might not receive compensation for such damages. |
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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FAQ
