The village of Brienz, in the eastern Swiss canton of Graubünden, is to be evacuated due to a large rock wall being at risk of collapse.
The 85 residents have been given until 18:00 on Friday evening to leave their residences.
A rock mass of 2 million cubic metres is about to break loose from a mountain. Some of it is expected to fall or slide down within one to three weeks.
The Albula district has declared alert phase orange, which means an "orderly" evacuation of the village.
From Friday evening, no one will be allowed to stay overnight in Brienz. If the situation permits, residents will be allowed to move around the village during the day. Access roads to the village are closed to non-residents.
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Code red will be declared when the threat is "imminent" – namely four to 10 days before the rock is expected to break loose. Once code red comes into effect, no one will be allowed to enter the village.
Experts have been monitoring the unstable mass of rock for some time. Last week, an acceleration of the rock shift was detected.
