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Albania Searches for Survivors After Fearsome Quake Albania Vows to Provide New Homes to Survivors of Quake by 2020
(about 1 hour later)
Scores of residents in Albania’s second-largest city woke up in tents, cars and a soccer stadium on Wednesday, as rescue teams continued to search for survivors amid the rubble of buildings destroyed by the strongest earthquake to hit the country in decades. Albanians left homeless by a deadly earthquake will have temporary shelter soon and new homes some time next year, the prime minister said on Wednesday, as the country assessed the toll of the strongest quake to hit the country in decades.
At least 24 people died and hundreds more were injured in the 6.4-magnitude quake that struck in the early hours of Tuesday. Hundreds of buildings collapsed or broke apart, trapping people inside. At least 26 people died and hundreds more were injured in the 6.4-magnitude quake that struck in the early hours of Tuesday. Hundreds of buildings collapsed or broke apart, trapping people inside, and others were damaged badly enough that people were wary of staying in them.
The country’s second-largest city, Durres, on the Adriatic coast, is close to where the quake and a swarm of aftershocks were centered, and it was hit particularly hard. Residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged spent the night outside, covered in blankets and sitting on mattresses, as workers from the Red Cross distributed food and army officers set up white tents. Many of the Albanians affected by the quake woke up Wednesday in tents, cars and a soccer stadium, but the authorities said anyone whose home was uninhabitable would be accommodated in nearby hotels. And they vowed to relocate families into permanent homes by 2020.
“We were afraid that there would be another earthquake so we decided, with our family, to spend the night outside with many people, other people in the town,” Nuredin Pronjani, an employee at Vila Verde Hotel, told The Associated Press. “Thousands of families spent last night out under the sky, and we can’t let them pass the winter in tents,” Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “We’re doing everything we can to make sure that all of them spend Christmas with a roof.”
There was no indication on Wednesday as to how many people might still be buried in the rubble. Firefighters and emergency search teams kept searching, a day after they pulled dozens of survivors from the rubble, sometimes in harrowing rescue missions that took hours. The promises were ambitious for a country that is the poorest in Europe, and is struggling just to fathom the extent of the destruction and rescue survivors from the rubble. Mr. Rama renewed calls to various countries, including members of the European Union and countries in the Middle East, to provide assistance.
Xhuliano Palku, the manager of the seven-story hotel Vila Palma in Durres, said that for 20 hours, he had participated in a risky operation to rescue the son of the hotel’s owner, who had been sleeping on the third floor and who had been trapped under the debris. “It’s too big of a disaster and a challenge to deal with for our little country and our limited resources,” he said.
Mr. Palku said that the hotel owner’s son was in his mid-20s and had been taken to a hospital after he had been pulled from the rubble. Destructive earthquakes are fairly common in the region, a fact underscored by a 5.4-magnitude quake that struck Bosnia and Herzegovina just hours after the tremor in Albania, and a 6.0-magnitude quake that rattled the island of Crete, in Greece, on Wednesday.
The three-star Vila Palma was one of the many buildings in the city to collapse, and among the four people who had been sleeping there, Mr. Palku said, one had been found dead. The quake, centered near the Adriatic port city of Durres, came just two months after a temblor in the same area injured dozens and damaged hundreds of homes.
“The first earthquake was terrible, but now we realize how small this was compared to this one,” Mr. Rama said.
The country’s second-largest city, Durres, is home to more than 175,000 people, lies close to where the quake and a swarm of aftershocks were centered, and was hit particularly hard. Residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged spent the night outside, covered in blankets and sitting on mattresses, as workers from the Red Cross distributed food and army officers set up white tents in the city’s stadium.
Even those whose houses seemed intact spent the night outside. “We were afraid to go home and that there would be another big earthquake,” said Burim Ajdini, 29. “Tonight I’m not going to sleep at home.”
There was no indication as to how many people might still be buried in the rubble. Firefighters and emergency search teams had pulled 49 survivors from under the debris by late Wednesday afternoon, sometimes in harrowing rescue missions that took hours, and the search continued for people to rescue.
Xhuliano Palku, the manager of the seven-story hotel Vila Palma in Durres, said that for 20 hours, he had participated in a risky operation to rescue a young man who had been sleeping on the third floor when the building collapsed, trapping him under the debris.
Mr. Palku said that the young man, the hotel owner’s son, had been taken to a hospital after being pulled from the rubble.
The three-star Vila Palma was one of the many buildings in the city to fall, and among the four people who had been sleeping there, Mr. Palku said, one had been found dead.
“It was a mess, it was a total mess,” Mr. Palku said of the building, which crushed cars that were parked beneath it.“It was a mess, it was a total mess,” Mr. Palku said of the building, which crushed cars that were parked beneath it.
“When I see the hotel, I think it’s a miracle,” Mr. Palku said. “I didn’t think someone could survive in that catastrophic scene.” “When I see the hotel, I think it’s a miracle,” he added. “I didn’t think someone could survive in that catastrophic scene.”
Various countries, including Italy, Montenegro and Serbia, sent rescue teams to Durres and to other cities after Albania, one of Europe’s poorest countries, requested international assistance. The Greek foreign minister, Nikos Dendias, visited the seaside city, as 40 Greek emergency workers and a sniffer dog joined the search and rescue effort, according to news reports. Many buildings that didn’t collapse were still declared uninhabitable, their walls crumbled or cracked, making any return too dangerous.
Albania sits in a seismic region known for devastating tremors. Durres was struck by another strong quake in September, which injured dozens of people and damaged hundreds of homes. When the quake struck at 3:50 a.m. local time, Engjellushe Methasani, a teacher who lives in Durres, said she packed some documents and rushed her 12-year-old twins and 16-year-old niece to the family apartment’s doorway, as pieces of walls fell around them.
On Tuesday, a 5.4-magnitude quake struck Bosnia and Herzegovina, just hours after the quake in Albania. On Wednesday, an undersea quake whose preliminary magnitude was estimated at 6.0 by the United States Geological Survey, rattled the Greek island of Crete and was felt in the southern mainland. There were no initial reports of damage or injury. The move stemmed from an old but unproven belief that doorways are the safest places during an earthquake, and could have put the children in more danger. But Ms. Methasani said there were no casualties in their apartment building.
“We too have been through this,” Mr. Dendias told reporters in Durres. “And we are standing by Albanian people and its government, to offer every help we can.” “It ended very abruptly, like turning a key over in a keyhole,” she said of the main shock.
Ms. Methasani said she couldn’t bring herself to return to her apartment, but photos taken by her brother-in-law showed chunks of walls that had collapsed onto the kitchen counter, 9-foot-long cracks in living room walls, and smaller fissures in the bedrooms.
The Albanian government launched an online donation page to help with relocation and reconstruction for hundreds — possibly thousands — of families.
Various countries, including Italy, Montenegro and Serbia, responded to Albania’s call for assistance by sending rescue teams to Durres and to other cities hours after the quake. The Greek foreign minister, Nikos Dendias, visited the seaside city, as 40 Greek emergency workers and a sniffer dog joined the search and rescue effort, according to news reports.
“We too have been through this,” Mr. Dendias told reporters in Durres on Tuesday, “And we are standing by Albanian people and its government, to offer every help we can.”
Ms. Methasani said she and her family had temporarily taken shelter at a relative’s home on the other side of the country.
“Everyone’s life is shattered because we don’t know if we will be able to return to our normal rhythm soon,” she said.