It hisses, cracks and rumbles. Boulders fall out of the fog cover on the slope. What happens further up, at the actual place of action, no one can see. The thunder echoes back on the opposite mountain range, and then suddenly there is absolute silence – except for the ringing of cowbells and birdsong. But the inhabitants of the Swiss mountain village of Brienz-Brinzauls know what's coming: the slope above their home is sliding – faster than the centuries before.
Carlota Brandis
Volunteer
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The residents now had less than 72 hours to pack up their belongings and leave their homes. This is because parts of Brienz could be buried by the rocks that are already falling. On Tuesday evening, the danger level had therefore been set to orange. By 18 p.m. on Friday, the village must be deserted. From then on, the residents are only allowed to check on their houses and livestock during the day – they have to spend the night elsewhere.
This is not entirely surprising. The 85 people who are still registered here have known since April that the moving "island" on the slope will come down, at least partially, before the end of this year. Nevertheless, they were not really prepared for it. Because the "island" has been sliding faster and faster lately. If and when they will be able to return permanently, no one knows.
"It was important to me that I go voluntarily"
"If it's going to hit a house, it's going to be mine," says Julien Almeida. His apartment is located in the first house just below the mountainside. Three weeks ago, he decided to leave Brienz, he felt that the slope was coming. Almeida knows the mountains, he often hikes and goes on ski or mountain bike tours. Other residents did not want to believe it. And stayed until the last day. When it became clear on Tuesday evening that everyone had to leave, there was a "funeral atmosphere".
Like Almeida, everyone else now has to say goodbye to their apartment. Not a nice feeling, says the man, who moved to the neighboring town of Schmitten at the beginning of May with all his furniture and memories. "When I turned off the electricity from my apartment, it was as if the doctor turned off the machines." He had lost hope. In the beginning, the rarely falling boulders were exciting, but now it happens every minute. Almeida could no longer sleep. He speaks of relief when he talks about how he left Brienz – on his birthday. Then his eyes turn red. "It was important to me that I go voluntarily."
The "island" slips up to ten centimeters per week
The rock mass above the village with a volume of 13 million cubic meters has been moving for several millennia. Experts point out that the last landslide above Brienz took place more than 20,000 years ago during the Ice Age. For 140 years, the slope has been sliding faster than before, namely several centimeters a year. For this reason, it has been closely monitored for several years with various measurements; the "island" is considered the best monitored mountain section in Switzerland.
In 2008 there was a major rockfall, at that time a road was filled in. The most recent increase in speed now represents the most active phase: the "island" with around two million cubic meters slides down about one meter a year, recently even up to ten centimeters in a week. Specialists call it a landslide on a landslide.