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oa Assessing the Impacts of Landslides on Hydrological Structure and Vegetation in the Swiss Municipality of Blatten
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, 5th EAGE Workshop on assessment of landslide hazards and impact on communities, Sep 2025, Volume 2025, p.1 - 5
Abstract
Approximately 50% of Switzerland’s territory is covered by natural hazard maps. About 6% of residential buildings are in zones at risk from events such as landslides, collapses, rockfalls, avalanches, floods, and debris flows. One of the major cause of these disasters is climate change, including temperature shifts and glacial flooding. Around 20% of the population is at flood risk, about 7% live in landslide-prone areas, and one-third of all jobs are located in areas exposed to natural disaster risks.
This article examines satellite monitoring of the consequences of the Birch Glacier landslide, triggered by previous rockfalls from the summit of Kleines Nesthorn, which occurred on May 28, 2025.
The authors analyzed satellite images of the territory within the settlement of Blatten, including changes to the course of the Lonza River. Based on satellite data, a complete destruction of the Lonza riverbed was identified. The dynamics of an uncontrolled lake inundating the settlement were analyzed, as its potential dam failure poses a flood risk downstream. The information obtained by the authors may be useful for further analysis of the ecosystem condition, planning recovery efforts, implementing flood prevention measures, and most importantly - for creating risk zone maps.
