Sitting in an earthquake-prone area, Albania needs to better prepare for large earthquakes
Tirana Times
Thankfully there haven’t been any major earthquakes in Albania to result in deaths and destruction since 1979, when a massive earthquake hit the coast of Montenegro, killing 36 people in the nearby Shkodra area and many more on the other side of the border. There have been many other earthquakes since – some larger than others נjust to remind Albanians that the country sits in a major seismic area.
The fact that earthquakes have not caused major death and destruction in Albania for 32 years simply means we’ve been lucky. That’s why it is imperative to prepare for when that luck runs out.
The length of time the country has been without a major earthquake also means that the many buildings have never gone through one, so we don’t know how they would hold up. Normally, any building in an earthquake-prone area like Albania should be constructed to withstand strong earthquakes. But as Albania transformed itself in the past two decades, construction practices might have not been properly vetted.
The construction boom in the post-communist era, when demand was high and regulations weak, is cause for worry for the large number of high-rise apartment buildings that have shown up all-over the country.
The fact that that these new buildings have not undergone a major earthquake is not brought up to raise panic, but to understand that there might be a need for specialized bodies to see, go building to building if they have to, if the construction was properly done to meet earthquake criteria.
This need of course is not new, but the recent events in Japan have reminded us once more about the destruction power of earthquakes and mother nature in general. The Japanese were prepared, and their buildings did not collapse in the earthquake itself. Most of the destruction we see on television screens comes from the tsunami that followed the earthquake.
Japanese buildings met earthquake requirements, that’s why we did not see the massive collapse there we have seen in places like Haiti, Turkey or even Italy.
The Japanese had the proper preparations for the earthquake and they followed them, in an orderly and stoic manner. These preparations start from teaching children in schools what to do in the event of an earthquake. There are lessons to be drawn from that too.
Albania’s disaster response has been tested several times in recent years, mainly dealing with flooding and excessive snowfall, but the domestic response has been somewhat lacking and one that has heavily relied on foreign help.
One could only imagine how things would go if a large earthquake struck.
Preparing now for a future earthquake means there needs to be proper and better planning for this, planning that involves training for civilian bodies in addition the military. It means holding disaster drills for schools and workplaces.
Albanians hold a general contempt for drills of that nature because it reminds them of similar exercises during the communist regime, but people need to be reminded that they are part of a good disaster preparation and go on in many western liberal democracies, preparing people for things life fire, flooding and earthquakes.
Earthquakes are going to be with us forever. They are not going away. The only choice we have is to be prepared.
