In the Swiss state of Glarus, a rockslide buries parts of the village of Elm, destroying 83 buildings and killing 115 people.

Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located at the intersection of Central, Western, and Southern Europe. It is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Austria and Liechtenstein to the east, and Italy to the south. Switzerland is geographically divided among the Swiss Alps, the Swiss Plateau, and the Jura mountains; the Alps cover the majority of Switzerland's territory, whereas most of the country's 9 million people are concentrated on the plateau, which hosts many of its largest cities and economic centres, including Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Lausanne, Winterthur, and Lucerne.

The canton of Glarus is a canton in east-central Switzerland. The capital is Glarus. The population speaks a variety of Alemannic German. The majority of the population (81%) identifies as Christian, about evenly split between Protestants and Catholics.

The rockslide of Elm was a mining disaster in Elm, Canton of Glarus, Switzerland which killed 115 people and destroyed 83 buildings on 11 September 1881. The catastrophe was partially caused by the mining of slate, beginning after 1870, by impoverished farmers who sought an additional source of income. Being inexperienced with proper mining techniques, they destabilized the rock face until the final catastrophe.

Elm is a village, and former municipality, in the municipality of Glarus Süd and canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Elm lies in the valley of the Sernf river, and consists of the village of Elm itself, and the hamlets of Sulzbach, Schwändi, Müsli, Untertal, Vogelsang, Töniberg, Obmoos, Steinibach and Wald.