6.4 earthquake in Albania

[warneagle]

Not a lot of info yet but this is a vulnerable area in terms of earthquakes and a relatively poor area of southeastern Europe economically, so it's worrying to say the least.

 

[warneagle]

At least 6 dead and 300 injured according to NBC. Several apartment buildings collapsed in Durrës, which is the second-largest city. There was also a large aftershock in southern Bosnia.

 

[WesL]

Buildings just pancaked...

 

[warneagle]

Yeah I would expect that a lot of those are apartment blocks that were built during the Communist period and that most of them probably haven’t been retrofitted to modern earthquake resistance standards because the money to do it just isn’t there.

 

[bjdeming]

Twenty-one fatalities and hundreds of injuries reported.

 

[bjdeming]

Albania's worst quake ever, per Reuters: 51 dead, over 6,000 homeless, and damage assessments ongoing.

Hope everybody can find a warm, dry place; It seems like winter there is like here in Corvallis: not arctic temps, but hypothermia risk is high.

 

[bjdeming]

Yeah I would expect that a lot of those are apartment blocks that were built during the Communist period and that most of them probably haven’t been retrofitted to modern earthquake resistance standards because the money to do it just isn’t there.

Also people looking the other way in some cases, reportedly. The money certainly isn't there now, either -- was reading in another article that Albania has stopped all planned new projects for 2020 in order to deal with this catastrophe.