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A new annual analysis reveals that floods, landslides, debris flows, rockfall and rockslides caused about CHF 200 million worth of damage in Switzerland in 2018. Heavy precipitation in January resulted in a high number of events, while several thunderstorms between May and August gave rise to floods. Total damage was higher than any of the previous 10 years.

To calculate and visualize potential avalanche hazards, researchers at the SLF have developed a method that automatically and efficiently pinpoints avalanche starting zones. Using RAMMS, a simulation software, researchers can model avalanches to produce danger maps that facilitate risk management.

February 1999 saw a spate of avalanches throughout the Alps, claiming many lives and in some cases causing extensive damage to property. Switzerland learned lessons from this experience, in particular by improving the training and organisation of avalanche services. But even today there is no absolute security.

A database of fatalities caused by natural hazard processes in Switzerland was compiled for the period between 1946 and 2015.

The Rhine waterway, which serves as an economic lifeline in Europe because it is critical to moving thousands of goods, risks becoming impassable as climate change increases temperatures and causes alpine ice flows to shrink, parching the river. Low water levels have already caused a financial impact on manufacturers by affecting their operations.

With a twice-daily national avalanche bulletin, hazards maps, and protocols for days of high risk, Switzerland has averaged 100 avalanches and 23 fatalities since 1999. The density of the avalanche warning network and the level of training and expertise is unique to Switzerland, but the network cannot catch every avalanche.

The SLF has developed maps that illustrate threats of typical skier-triggered avalanches in the Swiss Alps. The maps depict situations in which small to large avalanches are expected, provide a basis for interpreting the avalanche terrain, and facilitate both tour planning and route selection.

Switzerland has announced a major contribution of CHF 9 million to the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) Initiative, which aims to mobilize more than US$100 million by 2020 to strengthen risk information and early warning systems for vulnerable populations exposed to climate risks. Switzerland now joins other countries in supporting the CREWS project.