 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
 By Briseida MEMA Durr�s, Albania (AFP) Nov 26, 2019
Albanian rescuers searched rubble through the night looking for survivors trapped in buildings that toppled Tuesday in the strongest earthquake to hit the country in decades, with more than 20 dead and hundreds injured. Teams of soldiers, police and emergency workers sifted through the debris of shredded apartment blocks and hotels in towns near Albania's northwest Adriatic coast, close to the epicentre of the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that rattled the country before dawn. By evening the toll was 22 dead, according to the defence ministry. Most were pulled from wreckage in the coastal city of Durres and Thumane, a town north of the capital Tirana. In neighbouring Kurbin a man in his fifties died in the morning after jumping from his building in panic. Another perished in a car accident after the earthquake tore open parts of the road, the ministry said. More than 40 people have also been retrieved alive in marathon rescue efforts that continued with headlamps and spotlights after the sun went down. "The rescue teams will continue all night," defence ministry spokeswoman Albana Qehajaj told AFP. "We must be careful because the night makes any operation more difficult," she added. Earlier in Thumane, locals watching emergency workers comb over a collapsed building shouted the names of their loved ones still inside: "Mira!", "Ariela!", "Selvije!". Dulejman Kolaveri, a man in his 50s in Thumane, told AFP he feared his 70-year-old mother and six-year-old niece were trapped inside the five-storey apartment, because they lived on the top floor. "I don't know if they are dead or alive. I'm afraid of their fate... only God knows," he said with trembling hands. There were also brief bursts of joy during the day as rescuers delicately extracted survivors. One thin, middle-aged man covered in a film of grey dust was seen being carried out of the rubble on a stretcher in Thumane. In Durres, onlookers cheered "Bravo!" as a team used ropes to rescue a young man from the wreckage of a toppled seaside hotel in a two-hour operation. - Night in the stadium - Afraid to return home after a series of powerful aftershocks, hundreds of people in Durres took shelter for the night in tents set up in the city's football stadium. The health ministry said that more than 600 people have received first aid for injuries, mostly minor. During a visit to victims in a hospital in Tirana, Prime Minister Edi Rama told local media that Wednesday would be a national "day of mourning". "We have lost human lives, we have also saved a lot of lives," he said. Some 300 local soldiers and 1,900 police were sent to Durres and Thumane to assist with the rescue efforts, according to authorities. Aid also poured in from around Europe, with teams from Italy, Greece and Romania among those deployed to help. Albania's cities and coastline have undergone rapid development in recent decades, and illegal construction ignoring building codes is rife. - Felt across the Balkans - Tuesday's quake was the strongest to hit the Durres region since 1926, seismologist Rrapo Ormeni told local television. Albanian authorities described it as the most powerful in the last 20-30 years. It struck at 3:54 am local time (0254 GMT), with an epicentre 34 kilometres (about 20 miles) northwest of Tirana, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre. In Tirana, panicked residents ran out onto the streets and huddled together after the quake struck. Several powerful aftershocks followed, including one of 5.3 magnitude. The tremors were felt across the Balkans, from Sarajevo to Belgrade and the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad almost 700 kilometres away, according to reports in local media and on social networks. The Balkan peninsula lies near the fault line of two large tectonic plates -- the African and Eurasian -- and earthquakes are frequent. The movements of the small Adriatic micro-plate also produces earthquakes, according to Kresimir Kuk from the Croatian seismological institute. The most devastating quake in recent times hit North Macedonia's capital Skopje in July 1963, killing around a thousand people and destroying some 80 percent of the city.
Hope and fear in Albania as rescuers scour post-quake wreckage "We saved a life... I'm happy," says Agim, a relieved paramedic who helped with the difficult rescue of one young man who was stuck inside a collapsed hotel bar on the city's beach. It was a welcome moment of celebration for city reeling from the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Albania before dawn on Tuesday, knocking down buildings and trapping victims in the destruction. Durres, a tourist destination on the Adriatic coast and home to around 400,000, was hit hard by the earthquake, which was said to be the most powerful in the Balkan state in decades. Of the nearly 20 people found dead so far, including a young girl, many have been pulled from the rubble of buildings that crumbled in Durres and the neighbouring town of Thumane. But dozens have also been rescued alive. Teams of soldiers, police and emergency workers quickly descended on the Durres region to help with a delicate search and rescue effort, using shovels, cranes and excavators to pick through the ruins. Near the toppled seaside hotel, rescuers used ropes to haul out the young man's body in an operation that lasted for "more than two hours", said Agim. Onlookers clapped with joy and yelled "Bravo" as the young man, who asked for water after he emerged, was put on stretcher and taken away for medical care. "We had to be careful, one mistake would have been fatal," said Agim. - Cries from inside - In front of another destroyed building in the city, the wails of a woman trapped inside were audible to distressed onlookers. Numerous aftershocks also sent panic through the shaken city, with locals running in fear and children crying on the streets. Overcome with grief and worry, many refused to talk to journalists. "A nine-year-old girl is struggling in there with death," a woman in her 50s shouted at the media in front of a collapsed five-story building where nine people were thought to still be trapped. Nearby, another 10-storey building was severely damaged, while the facade of a large hotel was cracked. Albania is known for haphazard urban planning, particularly along the coast where many build without proper permits. "It's terrible, it's horrible," 25-year-old Astrid Cani said in tears as the city dug out victims. "We hope they will get them out alive."
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Google
