Facing some of the worse winter weather in living memory, Albanian authorities keep playing catch up with crisis.
TIRANA TIMES
TIRANA, Feb 16 – Mother Nature has been plain nasty this winter. Several people have died due to the cold snap that has made this one of Albania’s harshest Februaries in living history. Heavy snowfall has isolated about a quarter of a million Albanians from the rest of the world for at least a week. Many areas of the mountainous interior across the country are hard or impossible for authorities to reach. Food, medicine and other supplies are running low. Homes have crumbled under the weight of snow.
Albania is not alone is this weather-related predicament. The entire eastern part of the continent has had to deal with similar weather. However, this latest crisis and the way it is being handled points out how unprepared Albanian authorities and Albanians in general are to deal with natural disasters when it comes to planning, coordination and funding.
A tough situation
Some places in northeastern Albania are reporting snowfall of as high as 4.5 meters. Temperatures have fallen to minus 16 degrees Celcius in the largest towns in northeastern Albania, freezing water main pipes and leaving thousands without drinking water.
Some rural areas, and even some urban areas, have also been in blackout conditions, due to weather-related power outages. That has also cut cell phone service in many areas.
The Albanian government declared a state of natural disaster early in the crisis last week, with almost half of the country under heavy snow and low temperatures.
Air force and health ministry helicopters have been trying to send food assistance in many areas, but bad weather has often prevented them from completing their missions. The army has also used its heavy trucks and other machinery to transport aid and also open the national roads. However, it has been an uphill battle, as continuing snow fall has blocked or re-blocked the highways.
“Snowfall and low temperatures will continue over the next few days. So our efforts are aimed at preventing loss of human life,” said Prime Minister Sali Berisha in government meeting.
Health Ministry helicopters have made dozens of flights to take pregnant women or seriously ill persons to the hospitals. Officials say two people have died so far from the weather, though local media report the number could be higher since some parts of the country were out communication range and the government has not counted all weather-related deaths as such.
The state of natural disaster covers five of Albania’s 12 countries, including the entire north of the country, the east and the south-east. Entire villages have been cut off and are without any communication facilities. An increasing number of families, meanwhile, are complaining of a lack of food. The roofs of many houses, including that of a 300-year-old church in southeastern Albania, have collapsed under the weight of the snow, but no injuries were reported.
A number of avalanches have been recorded, luckily not causing any injuries. Army engineers have been called in to ensure maintenance along motorways leading into Kosovo. Civil Emergencies Headquarters is continuing to deliver food and supplies by air to the isolated areas.
But despite a lot of efforts, many needs have not been properly met.
Albanian media have shown helicopters that are ready to fly but have no supplies to send to isolated communities. Television stations broadcasted call after call from people asking for help through the media because they have no contact with authorities.
The government has pledged to supply all the necessary food and medical services to the isolated population, but it has often failed to deliver. Government officials have also resorted to asking private citizens to volunteer to help themselves and affected people around them.
Authorities caught unprepared, again
Despite the efforts many people have been putting in, from helicopter pilots to officials coordinating emergencies, this latest natural disaster has shown how little preparation Albania has to handle natural disasters. Albania has had a few of these in recent years, particularly flooding.
An expert on crisis management tells Tirana Times that the problem is Albanian authorities deal with natural disaster preparation on an ad hoc basis, rather than clear preparedness and planning used in modern states.
“It is frightening to see how little capacity Albania has developed as a NATO member country when it comes to managing a natural
disaster crisis.” the expert notes.
To make things worse, forecasters warn that if temperatures rise fast, another crisis would be knocking at the door: massive flooding is likely to return.
But authorities say Mother Nature is primarily to blame, not the government. They say they are fighting an uphill battle, facing conditions that haven’t been seen in decades in Albania – even worse than the infamous winter of 1985.
“This situation hasn’t been seen in decades. The roads are covered with snow that’s one or two meters deep. In some areas, snow plows clear the road only to have it covered again soon after. This is worse than 1985. We are facing a battle against nature,” said Jozefina Topalli, the speaker of parliament, who was visiting certain areas in Shkoder district.
Politics as usual
Not even a natural disaster can bring the political struggle between the government and opposition to an end, however. As Albanians struggled to cope with a difficult winter, Albanian politicians took some time to hurl accusations at each other. The opposition says the government is unable to handle the crisis, while the government accused the opposition of using a natural disaster to score political points.
President Bamir Topi urged the two sides to leave politics aside and focus on finding solutions. “In these difficult times we need to cooperate at all levels,” Mr. Topi said during a visit to affected areas in northern Albania.
Socialist opposition leader Edi Rama offered his party’s strategy on how to overcome the weather-related issues. The strategy’s discussion in parliament turned into a shouting match with the government members of parliament who said it was notsomething that needs to be discussed by the legislative body.
Rama had previously said the government is responsible for not setting enough money aside to deal with such emergencies and failing to manage the response properly.
“The prime minister says the rest of Europe is facing the same issues, but nowhere else are families abandoned by the state like they are in Albania,” Mr. Rama wrote on his official Twitter page.
Prime Minister Berisha responded quickly, accusing Mr. Rama of trying to exploit such a difficult situation for political earnings. “His tears are of joy, not of sorrow,” Mr. Berisha said of Mr. Rama.
Interior Minister Bujar Nishani, who heads the emergency committee, has insisted they have all the facilities and other tools to deal with the harsh winter weather. The reality on the grown appears to be quite different, based on what the local media is reporting.
Kosovo suffers human tragedy
Across the border in Kosovo, the bad weather has had a high human toll. Albanian President Bamir Topi sent a message of condolences to his Kosovo counterpart Ahtifete Jahjaga for the death of nine people from an avalanche last weekend.
A massive avalanche killed nine people in the remote mountain village of Restelica in southern Kosovo near its border with Macedonia and Albania, after seven houses were destroyed.
Amidst tragedy, there was a miracle: a five-year old girl was escaped from her home buried under 10 meters of snow.
The cold snap in Europe, which began late January, has killed hundreds of people נmost of them homeless. Heavy snow has been blanketing the Balkans for more than two weeks.
