Collapsing mountains: Where's next and how to avoid future disasters?
Abstract
On May 28, 2025 at 3.30 PM, the village of Blatten (Switzerland) witnessed the most devastating and unprecedented rock-ice avalanche in the European Alps, destroying the homes of 300 residents. This recent disaster exemplifies the increasingly complex, cascading nature of emerging mountain hazards, where climate change, cryosphere degradation, and slope failures interact to produce mass movements of exceptional consequence. This recent calamity also provides insights into how such events could be managed in other mountain ranges in an increasingly warmer world. Mountain disasters will become increasingly unpredictable in a warmer world. This short communication therefore calls for improved process understanding, monitoring and risk management.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Disaster Management and Resilience
Disaster Response and Management
Infrastructure Resilience and Vulnerability Analysis
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Geomorphology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Volume
- 505
- Pages
- 110318–110318
- Publication date
- 3 April 2026
- Language
- EN