90 percent of Swiss village buried after glacier collapse

A massive glacier collapse has destroyed most of the Swiss village of Blatten, leaving one person missing and nearly the entire town buried under debris.

The Swiss village of Blatten has been almost completely destroyed after a massive chunk of the Birch glacier collapsed into the valley below.

Officials say around 90% of the village is now buried under debris. Although residents had been evacuated days earlier due to warnings about the glacier’s instability, one person is still reported missing and many homes have been flattened.

Local authorities have requested assistance from the Swiss army’s disaster relief unit, and federal officials are en route to the area.

Roughly 300 residents were forced to leave after geologists monitoring the glacier raised concerns over its disintegration. The Swiss government has pledged financial support to ensure displaced villagers can remain in the region.

While climate change is accelerating glacier melt, experts say it's difficult to determine how much it contributed to this specific collapse, given the role of the deteriorating mountainside.

A recent report warned that Switzerland’s glaciers could disappear within a century unless global warming is limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels — the target set under the Paris climate accord.

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