Albania’s southeastern region felt the tremors of a strong 5.6 magnitude that struck neighbor Greece, with some houses in the town of Bilisht reporting structural damages.

We spoke to some locals from the village of Shuec who recounted the scary moments.

“We were really scared and did not sleep all night. The earthquake was very powerful”, said a citizen.

“The first one was very very strong. We all left the house and stayed outside. The second one was less powerful and was followed by other tremors”, said another local.

Shpetim Caulli’s house suffered serious damages with visible cracks on the walls.

“The roof is entirely gone. If another quake strikes the roof risks falling on us. What should I do? Where can I complain? I don’t have any money to repair it. I grabbed my mother and ran outside”, said Shpetim.

“How can I fix it if nobody helps me? Noone came to see the damage, I even went to the town hall today. We’ll take a look when we come they said, but when are they going to come?”, said a concerned Shpetim.

Another village that felt the powerful quake was Mançurisht, a village just at the border with Greece.

The house of Shpetim Braho suffered considerable damage.

“We were all asleep when the earthquake struck. I got up and took everybody outside. We didn’t sleep anymore after that. There were cracks in the wall”, said Braho.

On the other hand, the mayor of the town of Devoll, Eduart Duro, said that this morning the civil emergency unit was dispatched to report the damages. He said that after the verifications, the town hall will compile a report to see whether it can financially sustain repairing the houses damaged by the earthquake or call for assistance from the state.