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20261012 030000 UTC
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[00:00:31] Welcome to Europe, Europe in Focus. I'm Zakhar Butyrsky,
[00:00:35] and today in our digest, we will show the most interesting stories from last
[00:00:39] summer, according to the editorial board. In
[00:00:43] May 2025, a glacier collapse in the Swiss
[00:00:46] Alps wiped out an entire village, Blatten.
[00:00:50] A timely decision by the authorities to evacuate saved the lives of
[00:00:54] over 100 residents and tourists. Meanwhile, under
[00:00:57] masses of rocks, mud, and ice, homes disappeared.
[00:01:09] What if your home is no longer safe? And as
[00:01:12] climate change exacerbates geological
[00:01:15] risks, authorities and residents have to decide what to do with
[00:01:18] areas that are becoming uninhabitable. This
[00:01:22] choice could determine the future not only of
[00:01:25] Switzerland.
[00:01:28] Mountains are subsiding. Glaciers are melting and collapsing, mudslides, and landslides
[00:01:32] are destroying entire
[00:01:33] villages.
[00:01:38] In the Alps, places that for many decades were considered safe
[00:01:42] are now turning into dangerous
[00:01:44] zones.
[00:01:46] It's not easy, because this is our home, these are our roots. When
[00:01:50] to evacuate, when to stop construction? Clearly, there's a problem, but
[00:01:54] maybe it will only manifest in 5 years, or maybe even
[00:01:57] later. Leave or stay? In Switzerland,
[00:02:00] this question can be said to be taboo. We're trying to find out
[00:02:04] why.
[00:02:08] The village of Blatten in the Swiss Lötschental valley. In 2025,
[00:02:11] a glacier collapse led to the complete flooding of the village. 300 local
[00:02:15] residents were successfully evacuated, but one person still died, and the village
[00:02:19] itself could not be
[00:02:20] saved.
[00:02:26] Just 20 km from Blatten is the village of St. Niklaus,
[00:02:30] also in the
[00:02:31] mountains.
[00:02:34] Here, construction is in full swing, investments are being made in the development of the village,
[00:02:38] the residential sector is actively being built, life, one might say, is bustling,
[00:02:42] although here too, danger literally looms
[00:02:44] from the mountains.
[00:02:47] Andreas Katna knows about such natural threats firsthand.
[00:02:50] In winter, a piece of rock broke off,
[00:02:54] most of the rock fell onto a sports
[00:02:57] field, and one of...
[00:03:30] if nothing happens, it is immediately forgotten, that's why it's even good when
[00:03:33] such a shake-up occurs, it reminds us all that nature
[00:03:37] is stronger than man.
[00:03:39] St. Niklaus and the narrow valley where it
[00:03:44] is located are surrounded on all sides by mountains up to 45
[00:03:48] meters high. Their slopes are jagged rocks, fragile rock
[00:03:52] that can at any moment slide down the valley for a thousand
[00:03:55] meters.
[00:03:57] All landslides are recorded
[00:04:00] and studied, for two decades geologists have been taking
[00:04:04] measurements, in accelerated filming you can see how the mountain
[00:04:07] landscape changes, the reason is the constant movement from the higher located so-called
[00:04:10] block glaciers, these are icy and scree
[00:04:14] masses at an altitude of 3,000 meters, which are now melting faster
[00:04:18] due to rising temperatures, pushing the rock
[00:04:21] down into the
[00:04:23] valley.
[00:04:27] What does this mean for residents directly in the valley?
[00:05:01] In the case of Blatten, the motto now is: rebuild at all costs, the mayor of the community with a population of
[00:05:05] 300 people even managed to get the Swiss authorities to allocate hundreds of millions of francs
[00:05:08] for these purposes.
[00:05:16] The main idea is this: the old Blatten can no longer be restored, but we want
[00:05:19] and can build a new
[00:05:21] one.
[00:05:25] To listen to nature and make, frankly speaking, unpopular decisions,
[00:05:28] Andreas does not consider the decision a taboo, so he decided to demolish
[00:05:31] what was left of the destroyed house and build nothing more in its
[00:05:35] place.
[00:05:41] A day may come when we simply have to say: we are leaving, this
[00:05:45] is not easy, because this is our home, these are our roots, but we were also
[00:05:49] recently witnesses of the landslide in Blatten, and
[00:05:52] it is also extremely difficult when you lose all your property or are forced
[00:05:56] to leave it because another danger is approaching
[00:05:59] from the mountains.
[00:06:06] Andreas came to the conclusion that resisting climate change at some
[00:06:09] point reaches its limit, but people like him...
[00:06:17] hundreds of children in the Republic of Moldova are not raised in
[00:06:21] families, but in state boarding schools. Summer camps
[00:06:24] give them the opportunity to temporarily escape from
[00:06:27] everyday life. Those who are older, like Daniela and
[00:06:30] Viktor, are taught necessary skills to prepare for
[00:06:34] adult life. Meanwhile, Moldova is carrying out a large-scale
[00:06:37] reform of the child care system. It
[00:06:41] began almost 20 years ago to gradually abandon
[00:06:44] orphanages in favor of family-based care. By the end
[00:06:48] of this year, the last orphanages are scheduled to be
[00:06:51] closed. However, will this harm the children
[00:06:54] themselves?
[00:06:57] Moldova plans to close all state orphanages by next
[00:07:01] year. For this, the EU candidate country
[00:07:04] is fundamentally restructuring its care
[00:07:08] system. However, hundreds of children still need a
[00:07:12] new home, there are not enough foster families, and
[00:07:15] poverty and social problems remain serious
[00:07:18] challenges for people in Moldova.
[00:07:22] In my opinion, by the end of the year, we are not yet ready to place all children who
[00:07:26] are currently in orphanages or similar
[00:07:29] institutions into foster families.
[00:07:32] While politicians discuss reforms, many teenagers cannot find an answer
[00:07:36] to a very specific question, what future awaits them, and that too in the
[00:07:40] near future.
[00:07:45] Going on vacation in the summer, usually for these Moldovan
[00:07:48] teenagers it's unrealistic, because many of them grow up in orphanages
[00:07:52] or foster families.
[00:07:55] Viktor was 9 years old when he was taken from his family and placed under
[00:07:59] state care.
[00:08:02] My mom drank every day. We, children of our age, could
[00:08:05] only do small jobs to earn money
[00:08:09] and feed ourselves and mom. She didn't want to do anything at all.
[00:12:26] For Daniela, such changes became a reality: after 2 years in
[00:12:30] a state institution, she and her brother went to a foster
[00:12:33] family.
[00:12:37] In the first years after I was taken to the orphanage, I
[00:12:41] had many nightmares, I woke up at night, cried and
[00:12:45] couldn't fall back
[00:12:45] asleep.
[00:12:50] There are so many children there, and you understand that people cannot give
[00:12:53] so much love to everyone.
[00:13:25] First of all, I don't want to repeat my mother's mistakes, I want to build
[00:13:29] my own, beautiful and loving
[00:13:30] family.
[00:13:34] Moldova is gradually saying goodbye to the enormous orphanages
[00:13:38] of the past, but it will be crucial whether children on this path
[00:13:42] receive the support they
[00:13:44] need.
[00:13:47] Meet Nima Sherpa, he belongs to
[00:13:50] a people famous for helping climbers
[00:13:54] conquer the peaks of the Himalayas, but today his annual
[00:13:58] journey takes him far from the highest mountains in the world. In western
[00:14:01] Norway, Nima and a small team of Sherpas use
[00:14:05] centuries-old stone-building techniques to lay
[00:14:09] stairways and paths on the steep slopes near the Åkrafjorden
[00:14:11] fjord. Thanks to their work, more and more travelers
[00:14:15] are gaining access to some of the most impressive natural landscapes in
[00:14:19] Norway, where previously only a few could
[00:14:22] reach.
[00:14:25] Sherpa is almost 6,000 km from
[00:14:28] his home in Nepal. Every year he comes to Norway with
[00:14:32] a team of Sherpas. They manually build stone
[00:14:35] steps on some of Norway's most famous
[00:14:38] hiking routes.
[00:14:39] We are very happy to work in Norway and
[00:14:42] be part of this project that will exist for many
[00:14:46] generations.
[00:14:48] For almost 20
[00:14:52] years, Sherpas, the indigenous people of the Himalayan highlands,
[00:14:56] have been manually building these Sherpa stairs or
[00:15:00] Sherpatrappa, as the Norwegians call them. Today, these
[00:15:03] stairs to the sky have themselves become attractions,
[00:15:07] welcoming tourists of all ages and fitness
[00:15:10] levels. To date, they have built more than
[00:15:13] 200 staircases, ranging from ten to
[00:15:16] over 4,000 steps.
[00:15:19] So how did Sherpas from Nepal
[00:15:27] become builders of stone staircases in Norway? More than
[00:15:31] 20 years ago, carpenters
[00:15:34] were engaged in restoration. Nima first came to
[00:16:40] Norway as a teenager, working with his father, and has been
[00:16:44] returning almost every year since.
[00:16:48] The staircase that Nima
[00:16:50] and his team are currently building is on the edge
[00:16:53] of Åkrafjord in western Norway, next to the
[00:16:57] legendary Låtefossen waterfall.
[00:16:59] Stone construction on steep
[00:17:02] slopes is knowledge passed down from generation
[00:17:05] to generation in the Himalayas.
[00:17:08] A little, I need to trim it
[00:17:11] more so that both stones fit perfectly together.
[00:17:15] Each section follows the natural shape of the
[00:17:18] mountain, and the stones, some of which
[00:17:22] weigh over a ton, are carefully moved into their
[00:17:25] places. This is slow work by hand.
[00:17:29] It's easy to get a stone down, but
[00:17:33] to lift and move it up.
[00:17:43] So how do they get the stones up the mountain? In some
[00:17:47] places, by helicopter, one load at a
[00:17:50] time.
[00:17:54] Today we're delivering stones, we're delivering stones to their
[00:17:58] places, so we're communicating with our guys
[00:18:01] there, where the stones are, they send us what we need
[00:18:04] here.
[00:18:08] The team works closely with the pilot, precisely guiding each stone to
[00:18:12] its correct spot on the mountainside. This work, of course, means
[00:18:16] living away from family, but it also brings an income almost
[00:18:19] 20 times higher than they would earn in a month at home.
[00:18:23] This work opens up huge
[00:18:26] opportunities, not only for us ourselves, but for our entire
[00:18:29] community, for the entire country.
[00:18:32] At Låtefossen waterfall, a path
[00:18:35] winds up the mountainside and leads to
[00:18:37] a viewing platform. From here, visitors can enjoy
[00:18:41] views of the Åkrafjord and safely approach the edge of
[00:18:45] the thundering waterfall to take the perfect
[00:18:48] photograph. But these steps are not built just for
[00:18:51] beauty. On steep slopes, traditional paths can be
[00:18:54] slippery and dangerous, especially for inexperienced
[00:18:58] hikers. These stone staircases provide a
[00:19:01] stable, level surface, making them much
[00:19:04] safer in any weather.
[00:19:37] that building roads also brings good karma, because
[00:19:41] after the roads are laid, many people will be able to travel easily
[00:19:44] on them,
[00:19:48] and long after they are gone, the paths they laid
[00:19:51] will remain, forever changing the landscape and how people perceive
[00:19:55] it.
[00:19:58] The Bearded Vulture, or Lammergeier, is considered one of Europe's most impressive predatory
[00:20:02] birds. Its wingspan reaches almost 3
[00:20:06] meters, and today this bird can still be seen soaring over
[00:20:09] the Alps, but several centuries ago, bearded vultures inhabited
[00:20:13] the central part of Spain, from where they subsequently
[00:20:15] disappeared. Now scientists, like Sergio
[00:20:19] Couto, are looking for traces that the birds left behind.
[00:20:22] For this, teams of climbers ascend to
[00:20:25] hard-to-reach cliffs to abandoned nests in
[00:20:29] search of unique archaeological finds capable of telling
[00:20:32] the story of an extinct
[00:20:34] species.
[00:20:37] To explore such a vulture nest is simply fantastic
[00:20:40] for an archaeologist.
[00:20:43] These are absolutely incredible places of discovery, animals created here,
[00:20:46] work worthy of a museum.
[00:20:51] They are not only majestic birds, but creative builders, the Spanish
[00:20:55] bearded vultures. Sergio Couto is a biologist researching
[00:20:58] ancient, long-abandoned
[00:20:59] nests.
[00:21:05] We are in Spain, in Nerpio, in the region
[00:21:07] of Castilla-La Mancha.
[00:21:12] Sergio's group is setting off on a hike at dawn to avoid working in
[00:21:15] the intense heat. A long day lies ahead for the biologists, archaeologists, and climbers.
[00:21:19] The main obstacle here is
[00:21:53] the location of the nests, they are very difficult to reach, as they are located
[00:21:56] quite high. This risky operation
[00:22:12] is observed by archaeologist Elisabeth Ortiz, from the other side
[00:22:16] of the gorge, the girl, like biologist Sergio and... Here in Nerpio, many families
[00:23:20] of vultures repeatedly occupy the same nests, constantly repairing
[00:23:24] them, using even winged objects made by people, for example, some braided
[00:23:27] ribbon. We found a sandal that was
[00:23:31] 700 years old, which means that
[00:23:35] certainly hundreds of generations of bearded vultures
[00:23:39] used this nest, that is, after one of their ancestors
[00:23:42] dragged this sandal into the
[00:23:45] nest. Sandals, arrow, mask,
[00:23:51] woven items. Ana Belen Marín Arroyo studies
[00:23:54] the finds at the University of Cantabria.
[00:23:57] The mask and sandals are the largest
[00:24:02] finds we have so far. And which, of course,
[00:24:05] tell of ancient traditions and culture.
[00:24:09] The finds caused a great stir in
[00:24:13] the archaeological community. No wonder, vulture nests as a
[00:24:16] historical treasure trove. This mask made of sheepskin dates back to
[00:24:20] the 13th century, no one expected to find something like this in a
[00:24:23] vulture
[00:24:25] nest.
[00:24:28] This opens up a new direction of research for us. We already have more than
[00:24:32] thirty sandals, made with various techniques
[00:24:35] and from different materials. This was previously
[00:24:39] unknown, so this is truly a great
[00:24:41] discovery.
[00:24:49] Now they plan. especially
[00:25:05] towards the end, we had to take off the hooks and carry all
[00:25:08] the equipment up here, a tough
[00:25:10] day.
[00:25:15] Again, many woven items and four
[00:25:17] sandals were found.
[00:25:28] And the exhausting work paid off handsomely.
[00:25:31] To explore such a vulture's nest using such a method is
[00:25:35] simply fantastic and a unique experience for an archaeologist, it's
[00:25:38] the best experience of my life so far.
[00:25:40] This year, a group of scientists plans to explore other nests,
[00:25:44] but they should hurry. Attempts to return the vultures here are yielding
[00:25:48] first results, if the bearded vultures
[00:25:52] indeed return, their nests will become a forbidden zone for
[00:25:55] everyone.
[00:25:57] This concludes today's Europe in Focus digest.
[00:26:01] I was Zakhar Butyrsky, give a like if you enjoyed
[00:26:05] the broadcast. With that, I wish everyone all the best, bye.
[00:26:25] what is modern
[00:26:27] warfare,
[00:26:30] these are just names that our donors,
[00:26:34] our angels, rescuers took 17 people out of this
[00:26:38] house.
[00:26:46] an attack on our history,
[00:26:48] I'll take it,
[00:26:57] this changes the attitude towards the head
[00:27:00] of the regime, and also,
[00:27:32] about a small country in Central Asia that became
[00:27:35] independent 30 years ago, one of the greenest
[00:27:38] cities of the USSR, Frunze, that's how the Kyrgyz
[00:27:41] SSR was usually positioned. How did it happen that
[00:27:44] Bishkek became the leader in global anti-ratings for air
[00:27:48] pollution? This was such a big
[00:27:51] discovery, how could such
[00:27:54] a terrible object be located near the
[00:27:58] city. A small country.
[00:28:05] From resources, beauty of mountains, sea, sun, but citizens here so confidently dream of a green
[00:28:09] energy future, that the government is changing
[00:28:13] laws, how is this possible,
[00:28:16] and for you, electricity is now completely
[00:28:18] free.
[00:28:21] We wanted to tell you about Croatian folk energy,
[00:28:25] maybe there is something to learn here, here people are forcing changes
[00:28:28] in laws, and that is wonderful.