(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Switzerland is racing to rebuild Blatten, which was crushed by a glacier. It's a sign of the economic and emotional costs of a warming Europe. This content was published on November 6, 2025 - 09:00 9 minutes Jim Tankersley, The New York Times

Rebuilding was never in question.

The melting glacier collapsed on a Wednesday in May, a cascade of boulders and ice and water burying recently evacuated homes and farms in the village of Blatten. It took half a minute. By the start of the next week, authorities were already drafting plans for a new village, in the same valley, with the threats of a warming world still lurking in the Alps all around.

Blatten was home to 300 people before disaster struck; some families had been there for hundreds of years. Authorities do not know where exactly the new town will sit. But they have estimated it will cost Swiss taxpayers more than $100 million to build. Insurance payouts from the disaster are expected to add another $400 million for reconstruction.

It is a high-altitude example of the financial and emotional damage that Europe is suffering as the climate changes.

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