Beat Anton Rüttimann

Toni Rüttimann ("Toni el Suizo")

Beat Anton Rüttimann ( Toni Rüttimann ; born  August 21, 1967 in Pontresina , Canton of Graubünden ) is a Swiss bridge builder who works in Latin America and Southeast Asia . Thousands of people in South and Central America know him as Toni el Suizo .

biography

After graduating from the Lyceum Alpinum in Zuoz , Rüttimann wanted to do a limited social assignment in an earthquake-damaged area in Ecuador in 1987 and then train as a civil engineer at the ETH Zurich . But poverty and the missing bridges after natural disasters were the trigger for him to get involved with people in need. Since then he has been building simple suspension bridges for use by pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. They are created from simple basic components in a modular system developed by him. Discarded pipes and ropes from Swiss cable cars that are no longer required serve as building materials . Under his guidance, the locals assemble the bridges themselves. After Rüttimann fell ill with Guillain-Barré syndrome in 2002 , during the two-year therapy he developed a computer program with which dozens of bridges can be built simultaneously. Rüttimann does not have a permanent address.

By August 2017, Rüttimann had built 760 bridges for around 2 million people in 13 countries. For the rural poor, they mean access to hospitals, schools and markets. Almost 40 percent of the bridges are in Ecuador. Other large bridge-building areas are Myanmar , Cambodia , Laos , Vietnam , Indonesia , Mexico , Colombia , Honduras , Nicaragua , Costa Rica , El Salvador and Argentina .

On March 31, 2018, his wedding anniversary, Rüttimann completed his 777th bridge in Pay Pin Taung, Ayeyarwady region , Myanmar, and documented it in a film in 16 languages.

Quote

«It is not I who build the bridges, but the people together with me. It's hard work. But in these moments a bridge is more than just a construction: it is hope and progress ... I am happy to see that the language of bridges knows no boundaries. "

- Toni Rüttimann

statistics

Statistics of the built suspension bridges, updated until August 22, 2017

country	Completed	Served population
Cambodia	77	209 500
Indonesia	71	465 700
Laos	43	129 900
Myanmar	107	443,000
Vietnam	58	248,000
Argentina	2	003,500
Colombia	19th	030 200
Costa Rica	14th	008,000
Ecuador	301	364 900
El Salvador	1	0012 500
Honduras	33	089 700
Mexico	30th	022 400
Nicaragua	4th	007 700

country	Completed	Served population
Total	760	2,035,000

Awards

• 1997 23rd recipient of the Adele Duttweiler Prize
• 1999 laureate of the Dr. JE Brandenberger
• 2000 Special Award from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) in recognition of his original bridge building efforts to help people in need.

Web links

• Newsletter bridge builder stories
• Toni Rüttimann - bridge builder
• Partner: Swiss Cable Car Association
• Step on bridge no. 777 in another 15 languages ​​(language selection: click the "CC" symbol on the bottom right of the player)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Toni el Suizo - Building Bridges between People. Swissinfo , March 12, 2002, accessed January 8, 2013 (English). 
2. ↑ Matthias Meier: Suspension bridges against poverty. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , July 28, 2008, accessed January 8, 2013 . 
3. ↑ Ruth Spitzenpfeil: "The general looked straight into my eyes". Neue Zürcher Zeitung, November 15, 2010, accessed on November 15, 2010 . 
4. ↑ Daniela Hess: A bridge for life, a life for bridges. (PDF, 1.5 MB) Meilener Anzeiger, May 11, 2012, accessed on March 24, 2013 . 
5. ↑ Daniel Röthlisberger: "I am nothing myself". (PDF, 6.9 MB) (No longer available online.) Swiss family , March 20, 2014, archived from the original on March 24, 2014 ; Retrieved March 24, 2013 . 
6. ↑ Vimeo of May 20, 2018: The step on bridge no.777
7. ↑ Bridge Builder mailing list , Toni Rüttimann