The Canton of Grisons is providing the municipality of Albula/Alvra with comprehensive help to cope with the “Brienz slide”. The government has declared the situation a “special situation” and is supporting the municipality with personnel and financial resources. The village continues to slide downhill at around one meter per year. Monitoring of the landslide area above the village was reinforced and evacuation planning expanded.
The Mittelbünden village of Brienz/Brinzauls slides further down the valley and is threatened by a rock slide. Although slip speeds have declined slightly since June, they are still significantly higher than in the previous year. Monitoring the landslide area has yielded new findings.
The georadar, which has been in use since summer, shows a zone that is moving faster than previously known. It is located above Brienz/Brinzauls and has an estimated volume of up to 500,000 m3. During inspections, specialists also discovered a second, fast-sliding volume of up to 170,000 m3 above Vazerol.
Both volumes are heavily fissured. It is expected that they will break off in pieces and not reach the villages of Brienz/Brinzauls and Vazerol below. However, the risk for the two villages has increased slightly. The evacuation plan is therefore being adjusted for the less likely event of major crashes.
To research the subsoil and the causes of the landslide, six core holes have been completed so far and one is still ongoing. They show that the sliding mass is between 25 and 150 meters deep.
The drilling and seismic and geoelectric investigations make it possible to quantify the size and composition of the sliding mass more precisely and to obtain information on how the landslide could be technically remedied one day. A major factor for landslides is water, which moves throughout the system. This topic is being intensively investigated. Another drilling, which will be carried out this winter, will also be used to investigate water resources.
Extensive support from the canton
The canton is supporting the municipality of Albula/Alvra in dealing with this special situation, said Councillor Dr. Mario Cavigelli at a population briefing on Thursday evening. The government had responded to a request for help from the municipality and released extensive personnel and financial resources.
Grisons is up to date when it comes to dealing with natural hazards: events such as the Rüfe from Val Parghera and the rock slide and debris flows at Bondo have given them practical experience and learned a lot. The municipality of Albula/Alvra is now also benefiting from these experiences, said the Graubünden Construction Director. External experts would also be deployed.
Security Director Peter Peyer explained the support provided by the Office of Military and Civil Defense. Comprehensive planning and exercises had been carried out to evacuate the settlements so that humans and animals could be evacuated from the endangered areas in an orderly manner within a few hours. Cantonal experts had trained local management bodies and emergency personnel.
Should buildings fall victim to landslides, total losses should be covered by building insurance in the future, said Councillor Peyer. A corresponding legislative amendment will be presented before the Grand Council in December.
Everything for Brienz/Brinzauls
Mayor Daniel Albertin thanked the canton and all involved parties for their efforts and support so far. The aim of all measures is to ensure that Brienz/Brinzauls remains habitable in the long term.
The municipality and the canton also investigated whether and how the “Brienz slide” could be remedied with technical measures. The federal government can subsidize such measures with a maximum of 45 percent, explained Paul Steffen, Deputy Director of the Federal Office for the Environment.
One way to do this would be a tunnel in solid rock under Brienz slide. It could make it possible to drain the slide and, in the best case, stop the sliding movement. However, this option requires further extensive clarifications.
Infobox: The network for Brienz/Brinzauls
Numerous authorities and organizations have come together to deal with the special situation on Brienzer Rutsch in the municipality of Albula/Alvra:
- Department of Economics and Social Affairs (DVS)
- Department of Agriculture and Geoinformation
- Food Safety and Animal Health Office
- Office of Spatial Development
- Department of Justice, Safety and Health (DJSG)
- Department of DJSG, Legal Services
- cantonal police
- Office of Military and Civil Defense
- health department
- Department of Education, Cultural and Environmental Protection (EKUD)
- Department of Nature and Environment
- Department of Finance and Municipalities (DFG)
- Real Estate Valuation Office
- Department of Construction, Transport and Forestry (BVFD)
- Department of Energy and Transport
- Department of Civil Engineering
- Department of Forest and Natural Hazards
- Cantonal institutions
- GVG Gebäudeversicherung Graubünden
- Municipality of Albula/Alvra
- municipal government
- Technical companies
- Albula fire station
- First Responder Albula
- Partners and technical companies
- Postbus Graubünden
- RhB Rhaetian Railway AG
- Swissgrid
- AXPO
- Elektrizitätswerke der Stadt Zürich EWZ
- Albula Landwasser Kraftwerke AG ALK
- swisscom
Keyword: Special situation under cantonal civil protection law
In “special situations”, municipalities or the canton can no longer perform some of their tasks with normal means. Affected communities use a management team to deal with this. If they are unable to deal with a particular situation alone or with their neighboring communities, they can ask the canton for help.
Christian Gartmann is the media officer for the municipality of Albula/Alvra for the Brienz slide. He supports municipal bodies in crisis management and crisis communication.