Exactly one year ago, the Birch glacier gave way in the Valaisan Lötschental and unloaded ten million tons of rock and ice on the village of Blatten. Within four minutes, 96% of the houses had disappeared under rubble up to 100 meters thick. One hundred and thirty homes. One dead. Six hundred people suddenly evacuated, who a year later are still unable to return to what was their home. Property damage totals about 320 million francs, according to the Swiss Insurance Association.
Solidarity was immediate. 72.5 million francs were raised in donations from all over Switzerland and abroad. But a year later, only 45% of that money has been spent. The rest is still waiting because the reconstruction takes time, the land where to build has to be found and bought, and more than 70% of the municipality has been left in the red zone, where it can not be rebuilt. The new Blatten, if all goes according to plan, could be ready by 2029. Meanwhile, people are still scattered.
What has come to light in these weeks of the anniversary is what is most uncomfortable. The philosopher and theologian Jean-Marc Tétaz, who lost a personal library of 5,000 volumes accumulated throughout his professional life in the collapse, has filed a lawsuit against the canton of Valais. His lawyers argue that the authorities had known about the risks since 2022 and kept the population in ignorance. No generic high mountain risks, which are everywhere. Documented, specific risks. And people stayed in their homes without knowing it.
In Switzerland, when a natural disaster strikes, the logistical response usually works: evacuations are done, insurance pays, money arrives. What no protocol solves is the question left by this first anniversary: if the information existed, from when is there an obligation to share it with those who live above risk?