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

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

canton of Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion, Switzer ...

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

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. 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 (2006 m), the valley, situated between

Zermatt Zermatt (, ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Visp (district), Visp in the German language, German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is cl ...

and

Verbier Verbier () is a village located in south-western Switzerland in the canton of Valais Valais ( , ; ), more formally, the Canton of Valais or Wallis, is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederatio ...

, 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 Bernese Oberland (; ; ), sometimes also known as the Bernese Highlands, is the highest and southernmost part of the canton of Bern. It is one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which context it is referred to as ''Oberland'' witho ...

, 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 21 February, 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 Europe Natural disasters in Switzerland 1990s avalanches 1999 natural disasters 1999 disasters in Switzerland February 1999 in Europe