BFF-29 Six dead, 150 injured as powerful earthquake rocks Albania

165

ZCZC

BFF-29

ALBANIA-QUAKE WRAP

Six dead, 150 injured as powerful earthquake rocks Albania

TIRANA, Nov 26, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Six people died and some 150 were injured
in Albania after the strongest earthquake in decades rocked the Balkan
country early Tuesday, destroying buildings and burying victims in rubble.

The epicentre of the 6.4 magnitude quake was about 34 kilometres (about 20
miles) northwest of the capital Tirana, at a depth of 10 km, according to the
European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.

“We have victims,” Prime Minister Edi Rama wrote on Twitter. “We are
working to do everything possible in the affected areas.”

The quake struck at 3:54 am local time (0254 GMT) and sent panicked
residents running out onto the streets of Tirana, with people huddling in the
open, an AFP correspondent said.

The worst damage appeared to be around the coastal town of Durres. The
quake was the strongest to hit this region since 1926, Albanian seismologist
Rrapo Ormeni told local television.

Three bodies were pulled from the ruins of damaged buildings in the port
town, where a three-story hotel collapsed and other buildings were damaged,
according to the defence ministry.

The bodies of a man and a woman were uncovered in rubble in the nearby
town of Thumane, the ministry said.

A man in his fifties died after he jumped out of his building in panic in
the town of Kurbin, the defence ministry said.

Some 300 armed forces personnel have rushed to Durres and Thumane for
rescue operations, where “there are people trapped under the ruins”, defence
ministry spokeswoman Albana Qahajaj said.

In Thumane, around a dozen rescuers used an excavator to dig through a
mountain of debris in search of possible victims.

At least 150 people with injuries have sought first aid in Tirana and
Durres, Health Minister Ogerta Manasterliu said.

– Trapped under rubble –

In Thumane, soldiers, rescuers and families were sifting through the
rubble of a collapsed five-storey building as cries of people trapped under
debris were heard, an AFP reporter said.

Thoma Nika, a 58-year-old who lived in the building, said there were at
least six people under rubble.

Another man, Arben Allushi said with tears in his eyes, that his wife and
niece missing after the building collapsed.

A man in Durres told local television that his daughter and niece were
trapped in the rubble of a collapsed apartment building.

“I talked with my daughter and niece on the phone. They said they are well
and are waiting for the rescue. I could not talk to my wife. There are other
families, but I could not talk to them,” the man said.

The tremors were felt across the Balkan region, from Sarajevo to Bosnia
and even in the Serbian city of Novi Sad almost 700 kilometres away,
according to reports in local media and on social networks.

It was followed by several aftershocks, including one of 5.3 magnitude,
the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said. It was described by
authorities as the strongest earthquake in the last 20-30 years.

The Balkans is an area prone to seismic activity and earthquakes are
frequent.

BSS/AFP/FI/ 1522 hrs