The Evolène avalanche of February 21, 1999, killed 12 people in the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

canton of Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the 26 cantons forming the Sw ...

. Just two days later, the larger avalanche of Galtür caused 31 deaths in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Evolène is a commune consisting of several far-flung villages. From Evolène proper (at 1371 m altitude) to Les Haudères (1454 m) and further up to

Arolla Arolla is a village in the municipality of Evolène in the Swiss canton of Valais. It is situated at the end of the Val d'Hérens, south of the cantonal capital, Sion. Geography Arolla is situated at 1998 m above sea level, at the foot of ...

(2006 m), the valley, situated between

Zermatt Zermatt () is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO). ...

and Verbier, is a rather little-known tourist destination. The snow buildup being caused by the same weather phenomenon as in the Galtür catastrophe, the avalanche danger was raised in all alpine areas. For the Bernese Oberland, the Swiss institute for avalanche research (SLF) estimated the avalanche danger to be "very large" ("sehr groß"), but only "large" for that part of Valais. After the morning prayer service of February 21, the person responsible for avalanche safety – a mountain guide with 25 years of experience – announced to the mayor that he performed an analysis of the snow structure at the village of La Sage (1727 m), and that he deemed the avalanche danger to be "very large" (which required the evacuation of un-reinforced buildings in certain areas, and the closure of certain roads). Then, at 8:30 PM, at a breadth of about 4 km, between the mountain tops of ''Sasseneire'' and ''Pointe du Tsaté'', the snow cover ruptured and sled downhill. The snow masses being canalized by several gulleys, the avalanche flowed along the ''Borza'' stream and killed nine people on the valley floor at about 1400 m – five in the chalet "Théodoloz" at ''La Confraric'', and two each in a car. Up at ''Près de Villa'' (about 1800 m, to the north-west of the ''Villaz'' village), three others were killed. At the center of the criminal procedures stood the question of who was responsible for estimating the avalanche danger, if the town's emergency plans and precautions were sufficient, and why no evacuations and no road closures took place. The mayor and the safety chief were both sentenced for negligent manslaughter and negligent injury, as well as disrupting public transport. Pierre-Henri Pralong, the former mayor of Evolène’s village council was given a suspended sentences of three months and fined Swiss Francs 20,000. Mountain guide André Georges, who was in charge of security in the village, was given a suspended sentences of two months and fined Swiss Francs 30,000.

Aftermath

As a result of the avalanche, the Intercantonal Early Warning and Crisis Information System was introduced in 2002. More Intercantonal Measurement and Information System (IMIS) stations were installed, almost doubling the amount compared to 1999 to provide wider coverage in the measuring network to update the system.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evolene avalanche Avalanches in Switzerland 1990s avalanches 1999 natural disasters 1999 in Switzerland