Swiss Birch glacier collapse gives Asia a chilling warning
At-risk regions like the Himalayas would benefit from the early-warning system which averted mass casualties in Switzerland, experts say
Footage of Wednesday’s collapse showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside, into the hamlet of Blatten.
Ali Neumann, disaster risk reduction adviser to the Swiss Development Cooperation, noted that while the role of climate change in the specific case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated”, the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere – the part of the world covered by frozen water.
“Climate change and its impact on the cryosphere will have growing repercussions on human societies that live near glaciers, near the cryosphere, and depend on glaciers somehow and live with them,” he said.
The barrage largely destroyed Blatten, but the evacuation of its 300 residents last week averted mass casualties, although one person remains missing.
“It also showed that with the right skills and observation and management of an emergency, you can significantly reduce the magnitude of this type of disaster,” Neumann said at an international UN-backed glacier conference in Tajikistan.