Latest news with #SwissInsuranceAssociation
France 24
17-06-2025
- Business
- France 24
Swiss insurers estimate glacier damage at $393 mn
The Swiss Insurance Association (SIA) said it was "already certain that 2025 will go down in history" of the region with the year to date marked by "above-average claims" related to natural damage. The SIA had said two weeks ago that the collapse, a "major disaster that is virtually unprecedented in its scale and impact on the affected population", would cost hundreds of millions in claims. The collapse three weeks ago of the Birch Glacier, located in the Loetschental Valley, renowned for wild and unique landscapes, made headlines across the world. Some nine million cubic metres (318 million cubic feet) of rock and ice that tumbled into Blatten buried most of its homes. Its 300 residents had been evacuated as a precaution although the disaster left one person missing. The enormous mass of rubble formed a massive natural dam on the River Lonza, a river that flows along the valley floor and the water swiftly formed an artificial lake that submerged much of the village. Local people "suffered total damage caused either directly by the landslide or by the ensuing floods", the SIA said in a report. To "repair the damage caused to buildings and personal property," nearly 260 million Swiss francs will be paid out to the local population, according to the association. The remaining 60 million francs will "compensate for interrupted business and reimburse motor vehicle expenses". The SIA added that "Switzerland is among the best-insured countries in the world", with more than 90 percent of the country enjoying natural disasters-related insurance coverage.
The National
03-06-2025
- Business
- The National
Before and after: Entire Swiss village wiped out by glacier
The collapse of a Swiss glacier last week destroyed most of Blatten, a tiny village in Switzerland's southern Valais region that was home to about 300 people. Footage of the May 28 collapse showed ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into Blatten. Residents evacuated the village in the days before the glacier came down. Celeste Saulo, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organisation, said at a conference in Geneva that the disaster was "a potent warning about our warming world". "Early action avoided human losses," she added. "From understanding risk to effective forecasts, communication and evacuation, early warnings and early action work. They save lives." The disaster is likely to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the Swiss Insurance Association said on Monday. The collapse was a "major disaster that is virtually unprecedented in its scale and impact on the affected population", it said in a statement.
The Star
30-05-2025
- Climate
- The Star
Flood risk threatens Swiss valley after glacier destroys village
Debris and dust from a crumbling glacier that partially collapsed and tumbled onto the village of Blatten, Switzerland, May 29. Rescue teams with search dogs and thermal drone scans have continued looking for a missing 64-year-old man but have found nothing. Local police suspended the search on Thursday afternoon, saying the debris mounds were too unstable for now. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth ZURICH (Reuters) - A lake of water trapped behind a mass of glacial debris that buried a village and blocked a river in southern Switzerland this week has sparked fears of flooding in the Alpine valley, even as some water eased its way through the morass on Friday. A deluge of millions of cubic meters of ice, mud and rock crashed down a mountain on Wednesday, engulfing the village of Blatten. The few houses that remained intact were later flooded. The village's 300 residents had already been evacuated after part of the mountain behind the Birch Glacier began to crumble. Rescue teams were looking for a missing 64-year-old man but have suspended their search for now due to the difficult conditions. Flooding increased on Thursday as the mound of debris almost 2 km (1.2 miles) across clogged the path of the River Lonza, causing a lake to form amid the wreckage, raising fears that the morass could dislodge and trigger more evacuations. Late on Thursday, local authorities urged residents in Gampel and Steg, neighbouring and lower-lying villages several kilometres further downstream on the Lonza, to prepare for possible evacuation in case of emergency. Still, by Friday afternoon some of the accumulated water had made its way through the debris and run off, indicating that it could be finding a way back to the river without raising the danger level, Swiss officials said. Authorities are therefore sticking to safety measures put in place on Thursday and do not currently expect the situation to worsen, local official Christian Studer told a press conference. The army has been standing by with water pumps, diggers and other heavy equipment to help relieve pressure on the Lonza, a tributary of the River Rhone, once conditions allow. Residents have struggled to absorb the scale of destruction caused by the deluge, an event that scientists suspect is a dramatic example of the impact of climate change in the Alps. The Swiss Insurance Association said the damage would likely amount to several hundred million Swiss francs, and that it was too early for a more precise estimate. How many houses were insured in Blatten was unclear, it said in a statement. (Reporting by Dave Graham; Additional reporting by Oliver Hirt; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Gareth Jones)
