• Tweeter

  • republish

Relief works in Durres, Albania, November 27, 2019. REUTERS / Florion Goga

Albania is still in shock after Tuesday's earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale. It has 35 casualties and 657 wounded and the country is still shaken by important aftershocks. International aid arrives to rescue and offer makeshift shelters to the thousands of people who have lost their homes.

With our special correspondent in Durres, Louis Seiller

Circled eyes and very pale skin, Julieta is patient in front of the old stadium of Durrës to get warm clothes. Like this mother, there are several thousand people who have lost their homes. " We are here because of the earthquake because our house was destroyed and we have no place to sleep, our house is no longer habitable and we do not know where to go. We are not allowed to go home. "

Behind Julieta, dozens of white tents continue to be installed on the muddy lawns surrounding the stadium. Although her family is now safe, Julieta can not hide her concern. " We've been here since last night and I have three young children," she says. I do not know, only God knows what will happen next. "

→ Read also: Albania: a strong earthquake shakes the country, deaths and material damage

A little further, Florian queues at a stand held by local authorities. Last night, he had to sleep outside with his wife and two children: " No, we have not received a tent yet. I'm told "wait, wait, we'll give it to you", but nothing happens. You understand, we just need a tent because the rain will come and we want to get away, that's all. "

Many residents of Durrës came to help the victims. This is the case of Yuli who passes between tents to distribute mandarins: " We must be in solidarity with others. My house did not have any problems, but we saw what happened to other houses around us, it was terrible. "

Solidarity, the people of Durrës need it. Since Tuesday, the earth has not stopped shaking and the heavy rains announced for the next few days should not make any difference.

■ In search of survivors

Research is still in progress to find potential survivors in Durres. The geologist Klodian Skrame, on the spot, testifies whereas replicas are always felt.

" Of course, I hope we'll find people alive. Past experiences and interventions have shown that people have been rescued even after spending several days under the rubble. This was particularly the case in Italy, where the earthquakes may have been even stronger than those we are currently experiencing ... Similar situations have occurred where people have been rescued even after 48 hours, so we hope that here too, people will be saved. What we have just experienced right now is an earthquake called aftershock. A secondary earthquake of a magnitude lower than that of Tuesday which was a magnitude of 6.2 on the Richter scale. In fact, what this replica makes us understand is that, while it was hoped that the energy that has accumulated between the two tectonic plates weakens and decreases in intensity. But what we see is that the magnitude is still above 5, which is pretty aggressive, and it reminds us that the energy is still there, between these two plates. And we do not know exactly how big this energy is. "

The Albanians are our neighbors, they are good people, I know that if I had a problem they would help me immediately. There are also teams from France, Italy, Turkey, Kosovo to help them. The situation is crazy here. There was a new magnitude 5.3 earthquake, we were working and everything started to move again. Many people came to say to us: "In this building there are maybe 2 or 3 prisoners". We do everything to bring people out. All teams are hurrying, we all hope to find people still alive.

Miltiades Benakis, president of a voluntary civil protection team from Greece to help their neighbors. 27/11/2019 - by Oriane Verdier Listen