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Where should she go? To friends? Certainly not in a civil defense facility. For how long? A week would be fine, two too. But what if it’s six months?
Those are the questions that Ruth Taruser (59) has had to ask herself since Thursday evening. She is one of 80 residents of Brienz to be evacuated in the near future.
The mountain is coming. It has been rumbling in the village of Graubünden for a few weeks now, much louder than ever. On a Thursday afternoon climb, the mountain deviates as if to order. First creak, then thunder as a boulder breaks off and like a wagon wheel hurtles down the mountain. “Back, back!” says Christian Gartmann, media spokesman for the municipality of Albula, to which Brienz belongs, to the journalists present. A tree stops the lump. Mayor Daniel Albertin is also concerned: “He would have come a long way.”
Friends thought she was crazy
Only the old, closed schoolhouse stands between Ruth Tarnutzer’s apartment and the mountain. She stands in the direct line of fire and smiles. gallows humor.
Last August she moved to Brienz, to the apartment above the now closed restaurant. An apartment full of light, from the balcony you can see as far as Stierva and Mon. However, the rent is only for a certain period of time. That’s why in the summer she moves 200 meters further east, outside the line of fire, to an apartment with a permanent lease. They asked their friends if she was crazy. Taruser smiles again and shrugs. The tranquility, the greenery, the foresight. “It’s paradise for me,” she says.
A temporary paradise. And that’s going to get tight.
Mountain section «Island» moves quickly
On Thursday evening, the residents of Brienz will return to the gym in Tiefencastel and provide the municipality with information about the latest developments.
Taruser appears with a black card and takes notes. “Everything is still in green, in dark green,” she tells an acquaintance. You can see her nervousness.
It is paradoxical: the first successes with a drainage tunnel are only just known. Because the village itself is also sliding down dangerously fast. But now the problem comes up.
A mountain section called “island” has been rapidly accelerating since March. Experts assume that it will crash in the coming months.
There would be 1.9 million cubic meters of debris coming down – at the Bondo GR rock slide in 2017 it was 3 million cubic meters.
The fear spreads
With a 60 percent probability, the most realistic are smaller rockfalls, a “bit-by-bit” breaking off of the island. 30 percent of the time it can come down in a viscous stream of debris. The danger of a sudden landslide with speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour is ten percent. The longer the geologist talks, the more oppressive his statements become. The sober terror of scientific jargon.
If it continues like this, there is a “very good” chance that you will have to evacuate this year. According to the authorities, there are several days to do this, but they are also prepared for an immediate evacuation. In this case, the village becomes a restricted zone: no access, access roads blocked with concrete elements, a manned checkpoint for controlled access would be located in the north.
The message is clear: get ready, pack your bags.
“We wake up every night, lie awake”
Meanwhile, a rift goes through the population in Brienz. In the question and answer session, someone calls for a private event — without media and second homeowners. “The dramatization and twisting of questions can be disturbing,” he says. approval in the hall.
If you talk to the locals, there are those who say that fear is useless: “The press makes us more afraid than we really are.” People have been living here for 40 years, the mountain does what it wants. It comes as it comes. Many are tired of the journalists who rush into the village at regular intervals and ring the doorbell.
Another resident says: Why does the municipality still rely on measurements and drainage tunnels? There is no point. “We wake up every night, lie awake between four and five hours. Not just since today, but for years.”
This is no longer a stone chip, but a threatening landslide. The community must finally stop trying to save something that is beyond saving.
It’s also about the money
Mayor Albertin, eyes shining like glacier water, warm handshake, has no easy task. He must mediate, stick together, prevent the break in the village structure. “The old people are used to the rumble. But since 2017 there has been a clear acceleration,” he says. It is difficult to make it clear to them that something has changed in recent years and especially weeks.
At the same time, he wants to give people as much security as possible. He speaks of the “communicative balancing act”.
In the evening, it’s also about money – and about those less privileged than the second homeowners, of whom there are many more than Brienz. What does the insurance cover in case of damage and what not? According to a community survey two years ago, 17 people need help finding housing. Is there financial support for those looking for an apartment?
“We showed the worst variants”
Questions that also concern Ruth Taruser. Taruser works in retail in Valbella GR. Previously she lived in Masein GR. Down to Thusis GR, up the other side, 30 minutes – every day, longer in winter. Past the lowered shutters of the countless second homes. For two years she had been looking for an apartment closer to her work. “But as a local you don’t stand a chance,” she says. There are hardly any apartments. Within a radius of 20 kilometers there are 37 apartments available from 3.5 rooms. And when they are, they are expensive. Ruth Tarnutzer has no money to rent a second apartment in the event of an eviction.
Daniel Albertin does not have an answer to all questions that evening. But he finds the right words. At the end he sounds almost statesman: “We expected a lot from you tonight. We’ve shown you the worst variants. We’re not doing this to upset them. Only when we have thought of the worst are we best prepared. Even if it turns out differently in the end. We still don’t know much. But what we already know: you won’t be left alone.” That’s it, the communicative balancing act.
One day later. Ruth Tarnutzer has sorted through all the important documents, she knows what valuables she takes with her: the framed photos of the deceased parents. She wants to get her suitcase from the basement and get her clothes ready.
What she doesn’t know is where to go to her and her cat Mia. She wants to ask friends again and tell the community that she needs help.
Moving, even to another canton, is not an option. She was born in Aargau, has lived in the Graubünden mountains for 20 years and wants to stay in Brienz. “It’s my home.” She says it in a dialect that sounds more Grisons than Aargauer.
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
