Prime Minister Edi Rama together with other leaders attending the third Western Balkans Regional Meeting, namely the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, the President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović and the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, toured some of the quake-affected sites in Durres, the epicentre of a devastating earthquake that hit Albania in late November.

They were briefed on the current situation and the steps to assist the disaster-affected families.

The chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Emergency Committee Bledi Cuci said that teams of engineers are inspecting damages on the ground and work is underway to determine the extent of damage to each affected building.

Prime Minister Rama underlined that all affected families and individuals have been housed in hotels or in rental homes until their new properties are built under a reconstruction program.

“Just repairing works are needed in most of the affected buildings as their structure remains intact, but in many other cases the structures are not solid enough,” the Premier said.

After inspecting some of the hardest-hit areas in Durres, Balkan leaders also visited one of the hotels made available to the homeless families. Tourism Minister Blendi Klosi said that the tourist resorts have shown they are not built for business and tourism alone, but also to demonstrate solidarity in the case of natural calamities like the one that hit the country on November 26, as a large number of affected families have been housed temporarily there.