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The age-old knowledge of how to manage the danger of avalanche has been added to the list of intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO. A short history of avalanche protection in Switzerland.
Since people have settled in the Alps, they have had to find a way to deal with avalanches. The age-old knowledge about "white death" is still present today in domain names and domains such as "Schusslauinen" or "Rooti Loiwina", in architecture – and in the newsletter. avalanches, that the Swiss Snow and Avalanche SLF Research Institute has published twice during the winter daily problems.
1300 avalanches, nearly 100 dead
Today's avalanche protection, with its vast protective structures, was decisively shaped by one event: the 1951 avalanche, around 1,300 times. Nearly a hundred people died.
"The church can barely contain the overwhelming number of coffins, but the living are mocking the incomprehensible suffering that has overwhelmed them," they told the Swiss Film Weekly Show.
In one fell swoop, the old threat to the inhabitants of the Alpine region was re-established: in Vals, Andermatt or Airolo, but also in Austrian Tyrol and Carinthia, the dead are buried in cemeteries bathed in snow.
Invest or abandon the valley?
"The avalanche of 1951 gave a new impetus to the technical protection against avalanches.At the time, it became clear: one settled whole valleys or one invested a lot", explains the historian Christian Rohr, professor of history of the environment and climate at the University of Bern.
As a result, secular protection forests are reforested, avalanches are increasingly artificially triggered and occupational hazard maps are created.
In the avalanche, the winter of 1951 thunders about 1300 avalanches in the valley.
keystone
Prevent avalanches in the first place
Avalanche protection has already started before. From the mid-nineteenth century, the first buildings were built, mainly in connection with the main lines of railroad crossing the Alps, such as the Gotthard or Lötschberg line.
Engineers and geologists built tunnels and tunnels so that the railway could cross the Alps unscathed even in winter – but they also placed avalanche barriers on dangerous slopes. So we are trying to prevent until today that avalanches can occur.
Avalanche research – also for the army
Scientific exploration of snow and avalanches began in the middle of the 20th century. Here, the Snow and Avalanche Research Institute SLF is the world leader and has expanded its skills more and more.
Confederation founded the SLF in 1942 – in the midst of the Second World War. This time was not a coincidence, said historian Christian Rohr:
"Reduit's idea of retreating into the Swiss Alps also proposed using snow and avalanches as a strategic medium, certainly in some military plans and also had an impact on the SLF's first snow research. .
Avalanche protection in Switzerland has become a versatile discipline. Over the centuries, this has been in the interest of industry, tourism and the military. But especially in the affected population.
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