Overview
- Experts link the Birch glacier’s collapse to recent rockfalls from the Kleines Nesthorn mountain driven by melting permafrost.
- Preemptive evacuations ordered days before the May 28 landslide saved about 300 residents, though a 64-year-old man remains missing.
- Reconnaissance flights confirmed the Lonza River has carved channels through the two-kilometer debris cone, reducing the risk of a sudden flood wave.
- Swiss officials have paused further evacuations and are deploying construction machinery to control water flow while preparing financial and logistical aid for evacuees.
- Glaciologists warn that rising temperatures and thawing permafrost may trigger similar glacier failures in other vulnerable mountain regions worldwide.