Albania arrests nine people after quake killed 51

Nine people were on Saturday arrested in Albania on suspicion of homicide and abuse of power following an earthquake last month that killed 51 people.

Prosecutors said 17 people, including builders, engineers and officials, were suspected of breaching building regulations that led to the collapse of buildings during the 6.4 magnitude quake on November 26.

Eight of the suspects are still being sought by police.

Police chief of the port city of Durres, Lorenc Shehu, said preliminary investigations had established that irregularities had been the cause of building collapses that killed 23 people there.

Durres and Thumane, north of Tirana, were hit hard by the quake which also left around 900 people injured and 5,000 homeless.

Among those arrested was an engineer who worked on one Durres building in which eight members of the same family died.

Illegal construction is rife in Albania, where chaotic development exploded after the fall of communism in 1990.

Many buildings lack proper permits and do not adhere to safety codes.

The earthquake was the deadliest in several decades in Albania, which lies near a tectonic fault line.

Southern Philippines hit by 6.8 magnitude earthquake
Manila (AFP) Dec 15, 2019 - A 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on Sunday, geologists said, the same area struck by a string of deadly tremors in October.

People rushed from homes and restaurants set swaying by the strong jolt south of the populous city of Davao and the Philippine Institue of Volcanology and Seismology said it was expecting damage.

There was no threat of a tsunami, said the US Geological Survey, which initially reported the magnitude at 6.9.

The Philippines suffers regular tremors as part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Three quakes above 6.0 magnitude hit roughly the same area of Mindanao in a matter of weeks in October, killing some two dozen people and heavily damaging office buildings, schools and apartments.

Tens of thousands of people were forced into shelters by the string of tremors, the government said, either because their homes were damaged or they were too afraid to return.

Most of the deaths in October were due to collapsing walls and falling debris, including a teenage boy who was crushed by a falling wall as he tried to escape his school.

However, other fatalities were attributed to rock and landslides unleashed by the violent shaking that injured at least 400 people.

In hard-hit areas where aid took some time to arrive some villagers staying under tents near a highway begged for help from passing motorists, carrying placards asking for food and water.

In the wake of the tremors rescuers went from town to town looking for casualties but also urging families to leave homes endangered by landslides, while several residents trapped in mountainous villages had been airlifted to safety.

The Philippines has been hit by very powerful earthquakes in recent decades, including a 7.8 magnitude that struck the northern resort town of Baguio in 1990.

That tremor toppled tall multi-story buildings and hotels, killing some 1,200 people.

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Victims buried as search for Albania quake survivors ends
Durres, Albania (AFP) Nov 30, 2019
The search for survivors of a deadly Albanian earthquake was called off on Saturday as eight family members, including four children, killed in the port of Durres were laid to rest. The 6.4 magnitude quake that hit the Balkan country before dawn on Tuesday was the most deadly and destructive in decades. The latest victim of the quake, that left about 5,000 people homeless, died in a hospital Saturday bringing the death toll to 51, the defence ministry said. "Rescue operations have ended," Pr ... read more