Blatten, Switzerland Destroyed houses submerged in water from the Lonza River in the aftermath of an avalanche caused by the collapse of the Birch glacier. ‘Blatten has been wiped away. Erased, obliterated, destroyed, stamped into the ground,’ said the village’s mayor, Matthias Bellwald. ‘The memories preserved in countless books, photo albums, documentation – everything is gone. In short, this is ground zero for Blatten.’