Albania | Earthquake kills at least 16; rescuers hunt for survivors

Rescue crews used excavators to search for survivors trapped in toppled apartment buildings yesterday after a powerful pre-dawn earthquake in Albania killed at least 16 people and injured more than 600.
The 6.4 magnitude quake was felt across the southern Balkans and was followed by multiple aftershocks. In nearby Bosnia, another temblor with a preliminary magnitude of 5.4 struck southeast of the capital and rattled Sarajevo. There were no immediate reports of casualties and only minor damage in that earthquake.
The quake in Albania collapsed at least three apartment buildings while people slept, and rescue crews were working to free people believed trapped. There was no indication as to how many people might still be buried in the rubble.
“It is a dramatic moment where we should preserve calm, stay alongside each other to cope with this shock,” Prime Minister Edi Rama said.
The Health Ministry reported about 600 people had been injured, with some in serious condition.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.4 quake, which struck just before 4 a.m. local time, had an epicenter 30 kilometers northwest of the capital, Tirana, at a depth of 20 kilometers. Scores of aftershocks included three with preliminary magnitudes of between 5.1 and 5.4.
The Defense Ministry said seven bodies were pulled from rubble in the coastal city of Durres, 33 kilometers west of the capital Tirana and five people were found dead in a collapsed apartment building in the northern town of Thumane. One person died after jumping from his home to escape in Kurbin, 50 kilometers north of the capital, while another person was killed on a road that collapsed in the northern town of Lezha.
“Durres and Thumane are the two worst hit localities, with great material damage and … tragically lives lost,” Defense Minister Olta Xhacka said in a televised statement. “Search and rescue work continues at all sites where buildings have collapsed.
“But these are extremely difficult operations, where you have to work slowly because there is a high risk of further collapse, endangering not only residents, but also those trapped, and the rescuers themselves.”
Local television stations showed footage of a young boy being pulled from a collapsed building in Durres after an excavator moved a broken slab of concrete and local men pulled mangled reinforcement bars out of the way. Hours later in a separate incident, live TV footage showed people cheering when another child was found alive in a collapsed building in Durres where a body had been found earlier.
Seismologist Rrapo Ormeni of Albania’s Institute of Geosciences, Energy, Water and Environment, said a 6.4 quake was considered a strong one.
“Damage at the epicenter will be considerable because of its high energy, the magnitude it has,” Ormeni said. “Such kind of quakes are felt in a wider area due to its major depth and magnitude. It has been felt all around the territory of our country but also abroad, up to Bulgaria, Bosnia, Italy and other (countries).”
The quake was felt along the Albanian coast as well as neighboring Kosovo, Montenegro, Greece, and parts of southern Serbia.
Authorities reported scores of aftershocks — as strong as magnitude 5.5 — and called on people in the most affected areas to stay out of their homes and avoid driving in the affected areas to allow emergency vehicles free access. Many reported seeing cracks in their apartment walls.
Ormeni said there had been more than 150 aftershocks, and that this was expected to continue. LLAZAR SEMINI & VISAR KRYEZIU, THUMANE, AP