It’s been 2 years since the devastating November earthquake and the signs of its destruction are still here.
In Durres and ten other municipalities affected by the earthquake, work is still underway on the reconstruction that is planned to end sometime in 2022.
Besnike Xhixha is around 80 years old. For the last 13 years, she used to live alone in Rubjek, Maminas. The November earthquake left her without a home.
“All engineers told me it will go down,” – she told us.
For several months she lived with some relatives or in a tent just outside of her house, until her heavily damaged home was finally demolished and a new house was built in the same land, back in September 2020.
“My home was built for 1 month and 10 days,” – said Xhixha.
Xhixha is the first person who was given a new home from the grand reconstruction program.
Over 200 thousand citizens were affected by the 2019 earthquake – 17 thousand of them had to leave their homes and find a temporary residence or rent out apartments.
Several families from Thumana preferred to stay in tents or containers raised up in their backyards, even though they were offered rent bonuses. There are at least 157 such families.
“I had never thought I would live in a container, but what can you do? We have received the bonus every month but my husband works here. Where could I go? Thumana is completely ruined, I couldn’t find a single place,” – said a citizen from Thumana.
The effects of the earthquake were felt in 11 municipalities. The total financial cost of the damages was estimated to be around 1.1 billion Lek, from the demolition of households and businesses.
The earthquake also took the lives of 51 citizens and injured 913 others.
Several months after, the government initiated the reconstruction process, which according to the prime minister, wouldn’t leave anyone homeless.
In 2 years, 930 individual objects have been built from the top, and 23 apartment buildings in 11 affected municipalities.
Apart from funding coming from the Albanian government, over 500 apartments will be built in Kurbin by the Turkish government, over 2000 in Durres by the United Emirates and over 60 schools from the European Union.
Signs of the earthquake in Durres are still visible. They’re still present in the facades of buildings and in the minds of residents. In any case, life continues and the city that suffered the most damage is slowly returning to normality.
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