Updated 7.40pm

Rescue crews are seeking 14 people from Germany, Austria and Switzerland who have been missing for more than a day after a landslide struck a remote Swiss valley, police said.

Authorities had evacuated around 100 people from the village of Bondo and airlifted hikers from nearby huts in the eastern canton of the Grisons after rocks and mud hit the area yesterday.

Police said they were unable to reach eight people in the area, six of whom had been reported missing by relatives, despite intensified searches by teams including an army helicopter.

At a news conference today, police officials added that a separate group of six people may also be missing in addition to the original eight reported, though it was unclear from family members who made the report whether these individuals were in the area where the landslide occurred or if they were somewhere else.

"The relatives don't know just where they were," Lt Andrea Mittner said at a news conference televised on Swiss state broadcaster SRF.

Those missing were described as hikers and climbers.

No children or locals from the region were among those reported missing.

Austria's Foreign Ministry said two Austrians were among the missing.

The landslide's force registered a magnitude of 3 on the Richter Scale, Mittner said, equivalent to a small earthquake that can be felt by people and may shake indoor objects.

"You can imagine just what a mass had to come down to cause an earthquake scenario," he said.