Loetschental Aid Effort Takes Shape as Blatten Families Wait in Wiler

WILER - Two days after the slide, the Loetschental's aid effort had a desk in Wiler: cantonal staff, communal clerks, army logisticians and Swiss Solidarity. Families from Blatten needed beds, cash, medicines and a school place that was not a promise.

Federal and cantonal money would be voted later. On Friday the work was practical: lists, keys, a quiet room. Photographers were still being asked to stay back.

A valley that has practised, and had not

Valais knows avalanche winters. It had not practised losing most of a village in a summer afternoon. The Wednesday report is the event. This is the morning after, stretched to 48 hours.