Impending rockfall in Blatten VS "Must interrupt briefly": This is how SRF announced the evacuation order 9 days ago
Radio SRF had to interrupt its program on Monday morning, 19 May, due to an acute risk of rockfall. The presenter read out the urgent evacuation message for the Valais village of Blatten in the Lötschental valley live - a rare but legally regulated exception.
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- Radio SRF had to interrupt its program on Monday morning.
- Blatten VS was evacuated immediately due to the risk of rockfall.
- Such warnings must be read out directly by the radio. In an emergency, the program is even interrupted.
In the middle of a discussion about hiking trails and climate change, a Radio SRF presenter had to interrupt the broadcast on Monday morning. An urgent warning message had arrived in the studio. The population of the Valais village of Blatten in the Lötschental valley was to be evacuated immediately - with the exception of the districts of Wyssenried and Eisten. The reason: acute danger from a possible rockfall or landslide.
Presenter Adrian Küpfer read out the warning live on SRF 1: "I've just received another important message that I'd like to read out quickly at this point. It concerns the municipality of Blatten VS." Apparently surprised by the urgency, he interrupted himself briefly:
«I need to read in quickly before I read out something I don't need to read out.»
Then at 10:38 he read out the full message: "The canton of Valais announces for the Blatten Lötschental area - except Wyssenried and Eisten: Total evacuation of the village of Blatten except Wyssenried and Eisten. A rockfall / landslide must be expected in the affected area. The population is requested to follow the following instructions. Follow the instructions of the emergency services and authorities." This was followed by music, after which the message was repeated twice.
It took longer for Radio SRF 3
The reason for the rush was not just the content, but also the fact that SRF is obliged to broadcast such "urgent police announcements". If a warning message from the authorities is classified as "subject to dissemination" - for example via the Alertswiss system - the radio program must be interrupted immediately. The presenters may not make any editorial changes to the text. The responsibility lies with the authority, in this case the canton of Valais.
On SRF 3, the program was interrupted two minutes later. This is also part of the system: the various radio stations react as soon as they receive the report, but within a few minutes at the latest. SRG is legally obliged to broadcast such announcements.
Broadcasting mandatory announcements is a central pillar of Swiss civil protection. The official announcements during the coronavirus pandemic, for example, are well remembered. In principle, the law does not allow anyone to require SRF to broadcast certain content or information - but this independence is suspended in the case of urgent police announcements or official warnings.
The evacuation message for Blatten was published via Alertswiss at 10:19 a.m. on May 19, 2025. Shortly afterwards, the Keystone-SDA news agency also disseminated the warning via its channels. At 10:32 a.m., it was officially classified as a mandatory broadcast - so it was clear that it had to be read out on the radio and repeated several times, regardless of the current program.