A tiny Swiss village that attracted worldwide attention last year when it was evacuated because the mountain face above it had threatened to collapse onto it will now have to be evacuated again, according to local officials on Saturday.
The city of Albula in eastern Switzerland, including the village, Brienz, had cited the risk of a rockslide like the one that barely missed the village in June 2023 after the last evacuation.
“The municipality of Albula/Alvra’s leadership team is preparing a precautionary evacuation of Brienz/Brinzauls,” the city announced on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), using names in German and Romansch, (both of which were languages spoken locally).
A briefing for residents would be held at 7 p.m. (1800 GMT), it further added.
Recall that on May 12, 2023, the authorities ordered its 84 residents to flee the village over fears that it might be buried under falling rocks.
When a rockslide barely missed it a month later, only certain farmers had been permitted to return –on a temporary basis– to tend to nearby fields.
