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Threat looms over many villages in the Norwegian fjords. According to experts, part of the relatively unstable Åkernes mountain will collapse…with far-reaching consequences.
Last Saturday, National Geographic revealed the dangers of such a collapse: a 100-metre-high tsunami, powerful enough to wipe nearby villages such as Geiranger (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) off the map.
Although the risks have been known to the locals for decades, life seems to be going on peacefully. A retired farmer remembers the fissure, which is now widening by almost ten centimetres a year, reports 20 Minutes. “When I was a kid, we used to remove the peat moss that grew over the crack to prevent people and animals from falling in,” he confided. The crack is now under constant surveillance by sophisticated instruments capable of detecting the slightest movement.
According to Gustav Pless, geologist at the Landslide Monitoring Centre, “it would only take a month of very heavy rain to accelerate the process.” Global warming is exacerbating the situation, intensifying precipitation, melting permafrost and saturating the cliffs with water.
Drainage work is currently underway to stabilize the mountain walls. Should the fissure widen and cause a catastrophe, the authorities, aided by a large-scale warning system, will be able to launch a rapid evacuation. The date of the collapse is still unknown.
