A powerful earthquake has hit Albania in the middle of the night, forcing people to run into the streets. Dozens of people have been reported injured and several buildings collapsed, while others appeared to crack.
The 6.4-magnitude quake struck between the port town of Durres and the capital Tirana, at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles), according to the US Geological Survey.
Witnesses said residents were rushing out of their houses in panic, but an unknown number of people could still be trapped inside buildings.
One person has died after jumping from a building, Defence Ministry spokesperson confirmed.
Officials said that the most damage was seen in Durres, while at least 50 people in Tirana had to be hospitalized.
"Firefighters and army staff are helping residents (caught) under the rubble" in Durres and the nearby village of Thumane, a Defense Ministry spokesperson said.
Albania experiences regular seismic activity. On September 21, a 5.6-magnitude earthquake injured around 70 people and damaged 500 houses, while some were completely destroyed.
Rescue crews with excavators searched for survivors trapped in toppled apartment buildings and hotels Tuesday after a powerful pre-dawn earthquake in Albania killed at least 18 people and injured more than 600.
The magnitude-6.4 quake was felt across the southern Balkans and was followed by multiple aftershocks, with several above magnitude 5. In nearby Bosnia, another temblor with a preliminary magnitude of 5.4 struck southeast of the capital Sarajevo, causing only minor damage.
The quake in Albania knocked down apartment buildings and hotels while people slept, and rescue crews worked into the evening to free people believed trapped. There was no indication as to how many people might still be buried in the rubble, as neighboring countries and European Union nations sent search-and-rescue crews to help.
Local television stations showed footage in the early hours after the quake of a young boy being rescued from a collapsed building in the coastal town of Durres, 33 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital Tirana. An excavator moved a broken slab of concrete and the boy cried and shouted in pain as local men pulled mangled reinforcement bars out of the way trying to try to free his leg from the rubble.
Hours later, live TV footage showed people cheering as another child was found alive in a collapsed building in Durres where a body had been located earlier. In total, 43 people had been rescued from the rubble of buildings by Tuesday evening.
Health Minister Ogerta Manastirliu said more than 600 people had been treated for injuries, including nine hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.
"It is a dramatic moment where we should preserve calm, (and) stay alongside each other to cope with this shock," Prime Minister Edi Rama said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake, which struck just before 4 a.m. local time, had an epicenter 30 kilometers (19 miles) northwest of the capital, Tirana, at a depth of 20 kilometers (12 miles). Scores of aftershocks were recorded, including three with preliminary magnitudes of between 5.1 and 5.4.
The worst-hit areas were Durres, where 11 of the dead were found in collapsed buildings, and the northern town of Thumane, where another five bodies were pulled from the rubble, the Defense Ministry said. In total at least three hotels, a residential villa and an apartment building collapsed in Durres, and one apartment building in Thumane.
One person died after jumping from his home to escape in Kurbin, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the capital, while another person was killed on a road that collapsed in the northern town of Lezha.
"Search and rescue work continues at all sites where buildings have collapsed," Defense Minister Olta Xhacka said in a televised statement. "But these are extremely difficult operations, where you have to work slowly because there is a high risk of further collapse, endangering not only residents, but also those trapped, and the rescuers themselves."
Seismologist Rrapo Ormeni of Albania's Institute of Geosciences, Energy, Water and Environment, said a 6.4 quake was considered a strong one.
"Damage at the epicenter will be considerable because of its high energy, the magnitude it has," Ormeni said. "Such quakes are felt in a wider area due to (their) major depth and magnitude. It has been felt all around the territory of our country but also abroad, up to Bulgaria, Bosnia, Italy and other (countries)."
The quake was also felt in neighboring Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Greece, and parts of southern Serbia.
Authorities called on people in the most affected areas to stay out of their homes and avoid driving to allow emergency vehicles free access. Many residents reported cracks in their apartment walls.
All government agencies were on alert and "intensively working to save lives at the fatal spots in Durres and Thumane," Rama said. About 400 soldiers were setting up tents in Durres and in Fushe Kruje near Thumane in the north to house survivors left homeless by the quake.
Rama said neighboring countries, the European Union and the United States had offered help. By Tuesday evening, rescue teams from neighboring Kosovo, Montenegro, Italy, Greece and Romania had arrived.
Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia, Hungary, Germany, France, Estonia, Turkey and the Czech Republic also offered help, while the EU delegation to Albania said additional EU assets were on standby should they be needed.
"My thoughts are with the victims and all the people affected by the disaster," EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides said.
At least three apartment buildings and the power distribution station were damaged in Thumane, knocking out power in the morning. The electricity supply was restored later in the day.
An earthquake in September in roughly the same area damaged hundreds of homes.
Update: wsbtv.com on November 28 has this AP report:
Hopes are fading of finding anyone else alive beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings in Albania two days after a deadly quake struck the country's Adriatic coast, with the death toll rising after more bodies were pulled from the ruins overnight.
Prime Minister Edi Rama on Thursday put the death toll at 39, after authorities said six more bodies were recovered from the northwestern town of Thumane, and another two from the port city of Durres, 33 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital Tirana. More than 650 people were injured in the 6.4-magnitude earthquake that struck before dawn Tuesday.
Authorities say the search operation has ended in Thumane, with no more people believed to be missing in the collapsed buildings there. It continues, however, in Durres.
Update: Global News carries this latest report by AP on November 30:
Search for Albania earthquake victims ends as death toll rises to 50
The search and rescue operation for earthquake survivors in Albania has ended, the prime minister said Saturday, with the death toll at 50 and no more bodies believed to be in the ruins.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said preliminary figures showed more than 1,465 buildings in the capital, Tirana, and about 900 in nearby Durres were seriously damaged in Tuesday's 6.4-magnitude pre-dawn quake.
About 2,000 people were injured. One woman remained in a coma, according to health officials.
Preliminary figures estimate at least 4,000 people are homeless.
About 2,500 people from damaged homes have been sheltered in hotels. Others have been taken to neighboring Kosovo or have moved to eastern areas of Albania.
The prime minister has pledged all homeless will be in "stronger homes" in 2020.
The first seriously damaged building has been demolished, and a dozen others are expected to follow. Assessment experts from Greece, France, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia are involved.
A new draft law will sentence all investors, architects and supervisors to seven to 15 years in prison for violating construction norms. That and corruption in Albania's burgeoning building industry have been blamed for much of the quake's effects.
The government has set up financial compensations for families of the dead, including 1 million Lek ($9,000) per family, special pensions for elders and scholarships for children.
Rowan Cocoan There are nearly 40 deaths so far reported in article. " Prime Minister Edi Rama on Thursday put the death toll at 39, after authorities said six more bodies were recovered from the northwestern town of Thumane, and another two from the port city of Durres, 33 kilometers (20 miles) west of the capital Tirana."
Did you not get my point? He claims that I misread the article. I pointed out that when I read it, there were no dead yet listed!
This is the kind of reactivity we'd like Sott readers/commenters to keep under wraps. headingoutside didn't "claim" anything about you. He responded to you saying you couldn't believe that there were no deaths with a quote from the article that there were many.
Rowan Cocoan And.,,I tried to delete my comment when I saw my error, but SOTT doesn't seem to provide for that (though I wonder how my correction was deleted). It would be handy to be able to delete ones own comments so one could avoid nasty remarks.
Joe Okay, I'll just carry on here. First, I have a great sense of humor, so I"m laughing at all this. And second, in Rowan Cocoans's defense, I was implying that he hadn't read the whole article. He is correct, and LindaMay is being so kind - I love it! Again...I wish I had been able to delete my comment. Happy Black Friday - I'm staying right here at home - not even cyber shopping!!!
headingoutside What a studly hero!!! THANK YOU!!! (I've had that before too - where I hit 'enter' and 'whoosh' off into never never land. (But I bet that somehow, our three digit agency(ies) somehow 'magically' do get a copy.
If only they spent time on worrying about the commons' concerns, rather than surveilling us...think how much better the world would be.
headingoutside I don't think we should be allowed to delete our comments. Honestly I thought RC overreacted but it's nice for this to have a happy ending. I DO think it would be nice to edit comments, but I don't think the system is built for it and overhauling the entire system to enable comment editing would be making a mountain of work out of a molehill of a problem IMHO.
Rowan Cocoan Those buildings and the way they were built? ...didnt stand a chance. Bound to be casualties.
sidenote: At first I didnt like the fact that I couldnt edit or delete my comments but then I thought its maybe better like that. It should keep commenters on their toes. At least to some extent
"We have about 50% of the world's wealth but only 6.3% of its population. This disparity is particularly great as between ourselves and the peoples of Asia. In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world-benefaction."
~ US State Department, 1948
- George Kennan
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