A Constrained Creeping Landslide: Brattas-St. Moritz Landslide, Switzerland

Abstract

Landslides are one of the major geotechnical hazards affecting economy and life in the subjected areas. Though most of the landslides take place in rural areas, they cause significant damage to the infrastructure such as roads, railways, etc. Of major concern to the community are, however, the landslides active in urban areas. Among these, the Brattas Landslide of St. Moritz (Fig. 1.1a), with its most prominent landmark, the Leaning Tower (Fig. 1.1b), is of special interest, because: remarkably, the landslide stops in the middle of the town; in spite of the landslide, the town has enormous real estate prices; the town had to adopt special construction laws for the affected areas; there is an extensive displacement monitoring program in progress; there is an interesting experience related to the behaviour of existing structures; original engineering solutions have been put forward for the construction of new structures. The Institute of Geotechnical Engineering at the ETH Zurich has been actively involved over the last 30 years in all geotechnical aspects of the problem, both in research and in providing expert service to the community.