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Show " Die Volkswirtschaft": In 1959, 23 houses; in I96I , 47 houses; in 1963, 99 houses. The building activity thus has doubled every two years. Further examples are taken from a report of a regional planner who is familiar with conditions in the canton of the Grisons: " At one locality in the Upper Engadine with 221 residents, construction sites worth Sfr 2,000,000 were sold in 1964. At a thoroughly remote locality at the same altitude with 71 residents and situated around 700m above the valley road, a single corporation carefully acquired land for 30- 40 houses. From other places whose names previously had been hardly known, similar alarming reports are arriving, accompanied by pleas for help, " what shall we do?". Who should assume responsibility for the avalanche zone planning? This question was also posed by the Federal Forest Inspectorate, which has repeatedly pointed to the importance of avalanche zone planning. The Legal and Appeal Service of the Federal Department of the Interior discussed this question on 16 April 1961 , in which it was stated: " Preparation of avalanche zoning plans is the affair of the mountain cantons as well as the communities endangered by avalanches. An expert opinion on the various legal aspects of avalanche zone planning points to concern for safety of the residents as primarily the responsibility of the local community. Since ancient times the community has been assigned to the local police by prescriptive rights. Inasmuch as the cantonal laws permit them to prepare zoning laws, the handling of avalanche zoning plans also falls within their competence." But only rarely do the local authorities have experts available who would be capable of executing the technical task of mapping avalanche zones. This is also clear from the proceedings of the 6 June 1962 conference of cantonal Forest Supervisors from the mountain cantons. The notice reads as follows: " The communities are not technically qualified for the preparation of a zoning plan; the forest services must assist them. The forestry officials as overseers of avalanche defense practice are obliged to serve the communities-- when requested-- as technical advisers on avalanche zone planning." This suggestion was especially appropriate because the forestry officials by reason of their professional expertise in delineating avalanche occurrence, especially in regard to timber damage, were the best-prepared to offer objective opinions about avalanche dangers at individual areas. " The Forest Inspectorate of the canton of the Grisons in the year 1872 had already issued a memorandum to the district forest officials assigning the task of collecting avalanche statistics and filling out the related forms. After the confederation in 1874 established a Forest Inspectorate, the federal department involved set out the project of accumulating avalanche statistics from the entire Swiss Alps. On 7 January I878, the cantons were invited to have their forest personnel work toward this goal. These statistics included relevant historical facts about individual avalanche paths, such as unusual events associated with release and fall, size and character of effects and damages, accidents to persons and animals, unusual amounts of deposited snow debris, and similar data." This was written 89 years ago by the then Federal Forest Supervisor J. Coaz. The avalanche statistics were terminated in 1909 and published by Coaz in 1910. If we |
