It was established with the aim of repelling atomic bomb attacks that the country had never witnessed
The bunkers of the time of communism in Albania lose their battle at the sea
A fishing boat passes by a monument partially submerged by the encroachment of the Adriatic Sea.
AFP
A couple visits a washed up bunker.
AFP
picture
The former communist dictatorship built fortified bunkers on the Albanian coast, with the aim of repelling atomic bomb attacks that the country had never witnessed, but these evidence of the Cold War are being eroded by erosion factors.
According to scientists, the small Balkan country has one of the beaches most affected by erosion in Europe, due to climate change and unplanned urbanization.
On the beaches of Seman in central Albania, the bunkers built during the era of the late dictator, Enver Hoxha, who was at odds with the West, the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia and China, and was preparing for attacks from all sides, were flooded.
The same thing happened to the police station, sports stadiums and the oil well.
On the beaches, broken logs and collapsed roofs testify to the helplessness in the face of the unforgiving advance of the sea.
"The bunkers were supposed to withstand anything, but they failed in their only battle against the sea," Ilir Zani, 80, told AFP.
According to locals, the Adriatic has advanced 800 meters here in three decades, and Izmir Mernica, 47, fears the disappearance of his small bar, which supports his family.
Pointing to an old partially submerged water tower, he says, "We are worried, the sea is swallowing everything, look at this tower in front of which cars were once parked."
two meters per year
In 2009, the authorities withdrew seven submerged bunkers on the beach with T-59 tanks, after vacationers died in tidal waves caused by the current around the structures, and Izmir says with regret that the sea "swallowed them again."
Reports of climate change experts at the United Nations Development Program showed that “more than a third” of the coast, which is 427 kilometers long, is “affected by erosion at a rate of two meters per year.”
Environmental specialist Abdullah Deko explains that for each hectare, approximately 27 tons of soil goes to the sea every year, which is 11 times the rate in European countries.
In Keret, to the north, Flash Moshe, 64, still keeps his bunker that once housed anti-aircraft guns.
He turned it into a bar that attracted foreign tourists eager to learn more about the paranoid reign of Khoja, who had more than 170,000 bunkers and many underground anti-atomic bomb tunnels.
But Moshi makes no secret of his concern for now. The nearby bunker, a pale green structure resembling a flying saucer, was inundated with water.
"We are afraid that one day the waves will swallow us up, it is terrible," he told AFP.
In an attempt to survive, the owners of villas and hotels in Keret built perpendicular rocky piers illegally on the sea, but these facilities change the direction of the currents and make the situation worse, according to experts.
selfishness
"These individual solutions exacerbate the problem and harm biodiversity and marine ecosystems," warns UNDP specialist Mirella Camberi.
It seems that all conditions combine to facilitate the marine invasion, there is climate change with an increase in extreme weather events, rising temperatures, and sea level, and experts in Albania expect the water level to rise from 40 to 105 centimeters by the year 2100, compared to the years from 1986 to 2005.
There is also deforestation and sand extraction from rivers, as well as unplanned urbanization on the coast.
On Mount Shobal near Tirana, it is easy to see the damage caused by erosion, land degradation and the waters of the rivers that end in Lake Povila.
Abdullah Deko said that this lake, which supplies the capital with drinking water, "is already a hot spot for erosion."
To overcome this, in 2016, the authorities banned the exploitation of forest resources and adopted the commitments of the United Nations climate conferences in Paris and then in Glasgow.
Tirana has also recently strengthened its legislation, with Interior Minister Belende Kochi warning that "the criminal law will treat environmental crime as a crime against life, property or the work of an organized gang".
• According to scholars, the small country in the Balkans has one of the beaches most affected by erosion in Europe, due to climate change and unplanned urbanization.
• On the beaches of Siman in central Albania, the bunkers built during the era of the late dictator, Enver Hoxha, who was at odds with the West, the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia and China, and was preparing for attacks from all sides, were flooded.
• In an attempt to survive, the owners of villas and hotels in Keret built perpendicular rocky sidewalks illegally on the sea, but these facilities change the direction of the currents and make the situation worse, according to experts.
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