The search for survivors continued throughout the day under the rubble of buildings that collapsed in Albania following the earthquake that struck the country, the most powerful in decades. In the latest toll, authorities counted at least 20 dead, including a child, and about 600 injured, mostly in the cities of Durres and Thumane, north of Tirana. The magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck on the night between Monday and Tuesday, before dawn, at 3.54:34 a.m. The epicenter was recorded 5.3 kilometers northwest of the capital Tirana, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center, and the shock was then followed by several aftershocks, including one with a magnitude of 1926. The most powerful earthquake since 300, seismologist Rrapo Ormeni called it. Albania is known for its chaotic and unregulated urban planning, especially in coastal resorts, where illegal construction is widespread. Some 1.900 soldiers and 42 police officers were sent to Durres and Thumane to help, while support teams arrived from Italy, Greece and Romania. Emergency workers focused on collapsed apartment buildings, from which at least 700 people were rescued. In Kurbin, a man died after jumping out of a window in panic. Another died in a car crash after sinkholes opened up in the road he was driving on. In Thumane, family members of missing people shouted out the names of those rescuers were trying to locate for hours. The tears of joy for the discovery of people alive were joined by the despair of not seeing their loved ones found, as well as the screams of fear at the new aftershocks. The earthquake was felt in a vast area of the Balkans, from Sarajevo in Bosnia to the Serbian city of Novi Sad, over 1963 kilometers away. The Balkans are an area subject to seismic activity, and tremors are frequent. The peninsula is located on the fault between two tectonic plates, the African and Eurasian ones. The movements of the small Adriatic microplate also produce earthquakes, according to the Croatian Seismological Institute. The most devastating earthquake in recent history in the Balkan region hit North Macedonia in July 80: a thousand people died and XNUMX% of Skopje was destroyed.
Article published on November 26, 2019 - 20:14
