‘How can I live?’ in quake’s wake
Survivors in shock as tolls hit 30 dead, more than 650 hurt in Albania
DURRES, Albania — Stopping at intervals to listen for sounds of survivors, local and international rescue crews searched through the rubble of collapsed buildings Wednesday, as hopes of finding people alive waned a day after a deadly earthquake in Albania killed at least 30 and injured more than 650.
Those desperate for news included police officer Ajet Peci, who managed to emerge from the ruins of an apartment block that collapsed in the port city of Durres, killing his two adult daughters. His wife was still missing.
“How can I live?” Peci said, sobbing as he was consoled by neighbours, a bandage under his right eye and on a finger of his left hand. “I don’t know what I did to make it out. I wish I had stayed with them.”
Neighbours said only about four or five families were living in the five-storey building at the time of the quake, as the owners of some of the apartments had emigrated.
Overnight, authorities said four more people had been confirmed dead, and five more deaths were reported later Wednesday. Those killed included at least three children, Defence Minister Olta Xhacka said.
Hundreds of aftershocks, some of them strong, followed the magnitude-6.4 quake that struck the country’s coastal cities before dawn on Tuesday.
Crews briefly suspended rescue operations after an aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 struck Wednesday afternoon.
In Durres, Albania’s secondlargest city on the Adriatic Sea, residents slept in tents and cars and at a soccer stadium. Others spent the night on open ground, huddling around fires to stay warm.
The Defence Ministry said about 2,100 people were in tents, although many were being moved to local hotels, which had offered 1,500 beds so far.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said “thousands of families” suffered damage to their homes.
“Our possibilities are very limited, and our country does not have a budget to cope with such a tragic situation,” he said in the town of Thumane, one of the worst-hit areas.
Rescue efforts centred around Durres and Thumane, including a four-storey villa in Durres that housed an extended family. Locals said they believed six people might still be in the collapsed house.
Forty-five people were pulled out alive on Tuesday, including at least two children whose rescues were captured on television. But as Wednesday wore on, hopes of finding more people alive dimmed.