1,300 Swiss villagers face danger as thawing glaciers loosen a massive Alpine rock

The Swiss village of Kandersteg could be destroyed by a landslide due to an unstable mountain rock formation, and scientists are linking the threat to thawing permafrost and glacier dynamics. The 1,300 residents of the village in Switzerland's Bern canton live in the midst of a charming landscape including sharp peaks, white glaciers, steep green valleys and it is this natural surrounding that could take it over, as per a report by CNN.A mountainside rock formation called Spitze Stei, part of a mountain landscape increasingly affected by thawing permafrost, threatens to collapse the valley in a massive landslide. There has been a heightened threat of rockslides in Kandersteg since 2018, when paragliders noted that the rock formation was losing height and that pieces had broken off it, according to a Reuters report. “You are aware that it’s happening, but not afraid,” said Brigitte Jüni, an inhabitant of Kandersteg, to the CNN. She said authorities took all the precautions they could. “But then it’s nature. It’s nature, and you never know,” Jüni added.Thawing permafrostAs glaciers permafrost thaw, the frozen soil sediment and rock that bind and hold mountains together melt due to hi...