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In Switzerland, the village of Brienz had to be evacuated of its 85 inhabitants because of a threat of collapse of two million m3 of rocks. In France, this threat also exists, especially along the coast, because of climate change.
On the Basque coast, it is only a matter of time, a few years at most, before a final landslide carries away the house of this resident. “When we come here, when we invest here, it’s to have the view. The price we will pay sooner or later, I think”, says Henri Irastorza, resident of Bidart (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). Today’s lucky owners will be tomorrow’s losers. Here, the coastline recedes by one meter each year, and the town hall can do nothing about it.
20% of French coasts are threatened
It concentrates its efforts near the city center, where the process can still be slowed down. “We have no other solution than to protect, with plantations, endemic vegetation, to try to colonize the cliff again and allow it to better live the aggressions of time and water”, explains Emmanuel Alzuri, mayor (DVD) of Bidart. The frightening sound of rockslides becomes a habit. In Etretat (Seine-Maritime) last year, in Fécamp (Seine-Maritime) two months ago. In Gironde, there are no cliffs, but a stretch of coastline that is receding so quickly that a building had to be destroyed at the start of the year. 20% of the French coasts are highly threatened. By the end of the century, 50,000 homes could be affected.
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