Many international technical teams are working intensively and full steam ahead to complete a damage assessment following the devastating earthquake that hit Albania on Nov 26. A team of Israeli engineers is one of them, who are offering their expertise in measuring the level of damage to the quake-affected buildings. The Israeli team are working on the ground together with the Albanian engineers and they are issuing proper instructions on starting repairing process in many apartment buildings whose structure remains intact.

Prime Minister Edi Rama inspected an apartment building in the city of Durres, where damages are fortunately totally fully recoverable and where the Israeli team has brought in the most advanced technology for such cases.

“This is the Israeli team, one of the best in world for the damage assessment process. No problem has been identified here. The walls have been damaged only, but the building’s structure remains intact and solid and repairing walls is the only thing that remains to be done here. The structure remains solid. They said that a state of sheer panic prevailed at first, because it seemed as if the apartment building was no longer inhabitable. Indeed, over 90% of the damages are recoverable and whole this building compound here is recoverable. Even the part where a large crack is visible is recoverable. There are no columns there, only walls that can be repaired,” the Premier told a group of worried residents.

The head of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Civil Emergencies, Bledi Çuçi, said that work to repair damaged buildings will start soon, while an initial group of 100 workers have been already involved in the repairing buildings according to the instructions by inspectors. “A municipal team has started repairing works. The work to repair damages to this apartment building will kick off today. The only two ground floors of the building have suffered damages. Everything will return to normality within two days,” he said.

However, although there is no room for panic, residents still experience mixed emotions about what happened. “That night I was alone at home. The door stuck and I couldn’t throw it open. I was stuck inside and I was terrified,” said a resident, whose house will undergo reconstruction.

“The building’s structure and foundations are solid. We see the cracks and the crevices, but they pose no problem at all. Now we plan to build much better and more solid walls. You have been probably alone, but we now stand by you,” said a member of the Israeli team, while praising the Albanian engineers.