Rock slide threatens Swiss mountain village

The danger is visible to the naked eye: Behind the idyllic mountain village, the "Brienzer Rutsch" is rising. In the coming weeks, 2 million cubic meters of rock threaten to break loose and plunge into the depths. The rocks have been moving more than twice as fast as just a few weeks ago, and could soon bury Brienz.

Signs have been posted throughout the community, warning against entering the area. Above Brienz, countless boulders the size of garden sheds lie scattered in a meadow, with stones and huge rocks rolling down the mountain at irregular intervals. The small community lies about 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) from St. Moritz — not to be confused with the better-known Brienz, not far from Interlaken.

Four monitoring systems continuously provide data of the slope area at risk of falling. If the slope suddenly begins to slide faster than predicted, a siren in the village is set to warn residents, who would then have to flee within minutes.

Due to the danger, the 85 residents of the alpine village are bringing themselves — and their belongings — to safety. Authorities in eastern Switzerland have ordered the evacuation of the village by Friday evening. In this photo, Roland Bossi and his son are helping his parents to remove their refrigerator and other valuable possessions.

Because of the avalanche danger, the municipality has closed the access road to the village. The evacuation order came after experts looked at the weather forecast, said Simon Löw, professor of engineering geology at the University of ETH Zurich, on Swiss television. Rain has been predicted every day until Sunday, which could increase the speed of the landslide.

Residents were told about the imminent evacuation on Tuesday. It's unlikely that debris and rubble will actually hit the village. However, said Löw, "in the most extreme case" a landslide could "thunder down the slope at a speed of 100 to 200 kilometers per hour" (up to 125 miles per hour) and destroy the village in just 30 seconds.

The people of Brienz have known for a long time that clearance was imminent: the region has been on the move for centuries. The scree slope and the village itself have been sliding toward the valley at the rate of about 1 meter per year for the last 20 years. Climate change is making rockfalls more likely in areas where permafrost has thawed. But that isn't the case in Brienz, according to Löw.

"I wanted to come up once again and say goodbye to my childhood home. We don't know if our Brienz will still exist in two weeks," said Anna Bergamin, a local, on a walk through the village with her partner. Saying goodbye was very difficult for her, Bergamin told Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA with tears in her eyes.

Residents have been told that they won't be able to return for several weeks or months. Only when geologists give the all-clear and the mountain has "unloaded" will people be able to return home, Christian Gartmann, communications officer for the municipality, told Keystone.