On 28 May 2025, the tranquil Alpine village of Blatten in Switzerland's Lötschental Valley was dramatically reshaped overnight. A vast section of the Birch Glacier gave way, unleashing a thunderous torrent of ice, rock, and mud that tore down the mountainside.
Roads and homes were swallowed, and a centuries-old community lay in ruins. Thankfully, the majority of Blatten's 300 residents had already been evacuated—but now, a daunting question looms over the valley: how can Blatten be rebuilt safely in a landscape now defined by glacial collapse?
