The assessment of the earthquake that hit Albania this week is getting heavier. It is now 50 dead and rescue operations are over, announced Saturday Prime Minister Edi Rama by thanking the rescue teams from abroad, including France. Thanks to the search operations, some fifty people were able to come out alive from the rubble. Very moved, the Prime Minister had trouble retaining his tears by reading the names of the victims at a meeting of the government.
900 injured
Regarding the wounded, according to the Ministry of Defense, about 900 people were treated and 41 of them are still hospitalized. The earthquake that struck Tuesday at dawn was of magnitude 6.4, the most powerful for nearly a century in this small country of the Balkans.
The cities of Durres, a tourist town of 400,000 on the Adriatic coast, and Thumane, north of Tirana, have been hit hard. In the capital Tirana, no death is to be deplored but the earthquake has severely damaged nearly 70 buildings and 250 houses. The Prime Minister had previously promised new housing for every family affected by 2020. Albania, a country of 2.8 million people, is known for its wild urbanism, with houses often built without permits.