A M 6.4 earthquake struck Albania on November 26, 2019, causing 51 fatalities, numerous injuries and infrastructure damage.
The shock was the strongest that Albania has experienced in 40 years and its epicenter was located near the port of Durres, about 30 kilometers northwest of Tirana, the capital city of the country.
According to the USGS, the tremblor occurred on a shallow or steeply dipping thrust fault near the convergent boundary of the Africa and Eurasia plates. In the zone where the incident happened, the plate of Africa is converging with the plate of Eurasia at about 73mm annually.
Search and rescue operations immediately began in the affected areas. Military crews and emergency teams were deployed while neighboring countries, including Greece and Italy, sent additional teams to provide extra help. Many buildings suffered severe damage and others collapsed. On the same day of the incident, rescue teams pulled out at least 45 people from the rubble. In the cities of Durres, Lezhe and Tirana schools were closed after the quake.
According to the Prime minister Edi Rama, the rescue operation officially ended on November 20. In total, 51 people were reported dead and 2000 were injured. Moreover, 4000 more were left homeless and most of them are currently accommodated in shelters provided by hotels.
Regarding the infrastructure damage, 900 buildings in Durres and 1,465 more in Tirana were severely damage.
The government announced that the affected families will receive a $9,000 financial aid while special pensions and scholarships will be provided for the elderly and children, respectively.
The building industry in Albania has been blamed to be corrupted as constructions are sometimes of low quality and suffer critical damage during earthquakes. According to officials, if violations are currently found in the damaged infrastructure, those responsible will be sentenced to 7-15 years in prison.
Government and private initiatives have raised an amount of $16.55 million to help the affected people.
Sources: CNN, NYtimes, USGS, Independent
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