Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Rosie Birchard
00:19 Daniel Ritler | Blatten evacuee
00:35 May 28, 2025
00:57 Saskia Grindraux | Glaciologist
01:30 Christian Rieder | Regional council president
01:53 Rosie Birchard | DW Correspondent | Swiss Alps
02:19 Alex Rieder | Wiler resident
02:41 Daniel Ritler | Blatten evacuee

SCRIPT:

<<<Daniel in mountains, looking out at disaster site>>>

00:02
Buried under this brown debris 
is the Swiss village of Blatten… 
…swallowed up by the Birch glacier.

00:11
Daniel’s home is buried too… deep in what is now a disaster zone.

00:17
+++SOT Daniel Ritler, Blatten evacuee DE +++
It was like an explosion, like an explosion in my heart. We knew immediately that everything was destroyed. // We lost our home, our stable, and of course all our memories. We lived in a little paradise.

00:35
One person is still unaccounted for after last week’s powerful collapse.
But all other residents were evacuated before the deluge.

00:45
<<<Swiss mountains>>>
As a wealthy country well used to mountain living, 
<<<Swiss flag>>>
Switzerland was prepared.
<<<Authorities surveying disaster site>>>
Geologists predicted an incident, though the speed and intensity was a surprise.

00:55
+++SOT Saskia Grindraux, Glaciologist EN+++
There is glacial retreat, there is the rock face that destabilises, the permafrost that is probably melting up there. And altogether it makes a very big event. It’s difficult yet to be able to say this is because of climate change and this one is not -- so it’s hard to put a label on an event. But we are facing really high temperatures here in the Alps.

01:20
<<<Flood prevention measures in town>>>
Now authorities are monitoring the zone, 
And putting flood prevention measures in place in nearby towns.

01:29
+++SOT Christian Rieder, Regional council president DE+++
We now have to see how the dangers develop further at the site of the damage. Rock masses could continue to fall from the mountain. And we have to keep monitoring how the danger develops in terms of the course of the river.

01:45
But that’s no mean feat, with the site still too unstable for any clear-up to begin.

01:52
+++PTC Rosie pointing to helicopter EN+++
So what you see behind me is a helicopter taking off to transport scientists to what is left of the Swiss village of blatten, here in the Swiss Alps. //For now, there are no further evacuations planned, but we're told that the surrounding region still remains on high alert.

02:08
A few minutes’ drive away we meet Alex,
He’s busy collecting clothes and other basics for neighbours who he fears may never return.

02:18
+++SOT Alex Rieder, Wiler resident DE+++
Will people be compensated for the cost of their belongings so they can live here again? That has to happen quickly. Now, because people need money to live. Because if they're gone for ten or twenty years, they won't come back.

02:31
Daniel tells us wants to stay in his home region…
But he has no idea what the future holds.

02:40
+++SOT Daniel Ritler, Blatten evacuee DE+++
We now have to find a new place to live and a new purpose. It will definitely take some time until we can find our way again.

<<<Daniel gets out of car and goes to edge of disaster zone>>>
For now he can only look out at what was…
<<<Back to drone shots>>>
And hope the fallout of the collapse that turned this Alpine idyll into no man’s land… is contained