← Back to Articles | Original (German)
We are repeatedly and dramatically reminded that natural disasters in the Alpine region can actually reach enormous proportions. "On May 28th, in the Swiss canton of Valais, the village of Blatten, which had already been evacuated, was almost 90 percent buried by masses of rubble and ice. More than 130 houses were buried. [...] The events began at the approximately 3,800 meter high Kleiner Nesthorn, above the now collapsed Birch glacier. [...] The Lonza is also damming in front of the debris cone, which is 50 to 200 meters thick and the village stream Gisentella, the Lonza has now flooded a large part of the village." (derStandard.at, May 29, 2025). Disaster rarely comes alone.
While in historical times there were entries in chronicles and findings in the landscape, as can be seen in the recently published book about historical natural disasters in Tyrol, today there are videos circulating on the Internet that once again underline the drama.
But what should you do if this happens? Who helps? Who coordinates the help? What could have been done in advance and how should helpers proceed? A guide from 2018 provides answers to these questions.
Manfred Schiechtl, born in Axams in 1966, is a journalist who has dealt with natural disasters and extreme events in his Tyrolean homeland for over 30 years. Now his experiences and research are available in book form: "15 gripping crime novels about events that shaped the country and shaped its people." (Introduction, page 8). The choice of words in many headlines is correspondingly dramatic. To start with, it's about "The merciless fire hells", i.e. about "mega forest fires in the Inn and Eisack Valleys", as the explanatory subtitle says. The topic is the devastating forest fire of October 16, 1705, which raged for around two weeks, but was only dealt with historically in the 1950s (page 17). The second chapter, "The Venetian Forests", is also interesting, where we learn that the Adige, which drained southwards, was used for the wood drift of trees that now support parts of Venice as pilots. The ruthless overexploitation left deep wounds in the forest. "It is said that the Vitschgau was so heavily cleared in the Middle Ages that the forest cover took centuries to recover." (page 29).
The fact that landslides have occurred and continue to occur in Tyrol, the land of mountains, is hardly surprising; the dimensions alone are always astonishing. The "Biblical Rockslide" is, among other things, about the gigantic collapse in Köfels (aerial photo on page 41), which sealed off the valley and kept geologists busy for a long time. Since pumice stone was found there, which is created by frictional heat, Alexander Tollmann and his wife Edith thought that this could be an impact, i.e. a meteorite impact. It is clear that such rockslides cause the earth to shake. Conversely, earthquakes, such as those caused by tectonic forces in the subsurface, can also trigger smaller rocks and larger landslides. "The natural reservoir" (from page 93) deals with a landslide near Kramsach and Brixlegg, which was dated between 120 and 240 AD and dammed the Inn for many kilometers. This shows that one catastrophe can trigger the next.
A few other topics, i.e. headings. The book is also about "deadly weather catastrophes" (page 57), about "dying forests" (page 69), about "the spectacular underworld", a cave system in the Hochabte Valley that once reached as far as Veneto (page 81) and finally (page 175) about the "wet apocalypse", i.e. floods, mudflows, glacial lake outbursts and tsunamis.
This sentence (page 26) once again dispels the idea of our society, which believes in technology, that everything can be controlled in the 21st century. The author, Florian Rudolf-Miklau, head of torrent and avalanche control, says: "...however, the high level of social security and the state's guarantee of public safety fuel the illusion among the population that there could be a danger-free life." (page 27). Far from it! Rudolf-Miklau, a proven expert, is familiar with natural disasters and their management. His book "Dealing with Natural Disasters" is a broad and comprehensive presentation that not only addresses the event of damage, but also focuses on precautionary measures and raising awareness.
A great merit of the work is, among other things, its precise terminology. On pages 70 ff, a distinction is not only made between weather, water, snow and ice, fire and geological hazards, they are also defined in detail including their origin. For example, heavy precipitation, hail, storms, floods, as well as snow loads and earthquakes are explained clearly. "Soil subsidence (sinkhole): caused by leaching of water-soluble rocks or by washing out of loose rocks. Artificial sinkholes (pinge) caused by mining activity." (page 75).
The handy book (280 pages) is aimed at local decision-makers, as well as all those who are involved in any way with natural hazards and their management. At the beginning you will find relevant legal standards from international guidelines ("Flood Directive of the European Parliament") to federal legislation and state law gazettes of the individual federal states. The large sections, "Municipal dealing with natural hazards", "Fundamentals of municipal risk management" and "Structures of municipal natural disaster management" are divided into numerous chapters and sub-chapters and provide a structured overview. It quickly becomes clear: no aspect has been forgotten here; public information obligations (p. 35) are taken into account, as is municipal risk communication.
Rudolf-Miklau explains risks, defines protection goals, talks about protective measures and asks: "When do we talk about a catastrophe?" The answer can be found on page 54: "A catastrophe is an unfortunate event with serious consequences. [...] However, the catastrophe is not the natural event itself, but rather its effect on people and the environment."
Conclusion: "When nature rages - historical natural disasters from Kufstein to Salurn" is a grippingly written nature guide through Tyrol that brings historical disasters into the present day and thus shows once again that the "good old days" did not exist in this form. The “Dealing with Natural Disasters – Guide for Mayors and Helpers” is a competent and comprehensive compendium that you should not just pick up when the need arises, but rather in advance, in order to be well prepared if the worst comes to the worst. (Thomas Hofmann, May 31, 2025)