BLATTEN, Switzerland (AP) — When a devastating landslide all but swallowed his Swiss village and toppled his three-generation family-owned hotel in May, Lukas Kalbermatten was overwhelmed by a sense of emptiness before the emotions hit. But he choose not to dwell on them long, and snapped into action to rebuild.

The hotelier’s response sums up a mindset of many of the 300-odd residents of Blatten: They could have left their bucolic village in the southern Lötschental valley for dead — but instead decided to try to see it come alive again one day, and are taking steps to rebuild.

Authorities evacuated villagers and livestock, but a 64-year-old man was killed as 9 million cubic meters of ice, stone and earth tumbled down from the Kleines Nesthorn peak on May 28. The landslide left a trail

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