In an effort to restore communities after the devastating 2019 Albanian earthquake, the Albanian Red Cross constructed 52 Better Shelters for families to live in while permanent housing is restored.
On 26 November 2019, Northwestern Albania was struck by an earthquake registered as 6.4 on the Richter scale. The earthquake lasted 50 seconds and was felt to Belgrade, 370 kilometres from the epicentre. 51 people were killed, and roughly 3000 were injured, making the earthquake the world’s deadliest in 2019. Furthermore, it is estimated that 14,000 people became homeless in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, as 11,490 homes were damaged or destroyed.
Additionally, 83,000 homes will need to be repaired.
As the earthquake’s consequences propelled thousands of Albanians into crisis, local organisations have begun a concentrated effort to implement relief operations. One such organisation is the Albanian Red Cross branch, which has focused on reconstructing communities by offering them temporary shelter. To achieve that goal, Red Cross Albania implemented 52 RHUs as temporary shelters for families while the government is restoring permanent housing.
“We think that the RHUs are the best possible temporary accommodation that we can provide to our communities, “ says Saidi Bushaj, an Albanian Red Cross project team member.
“The shelters will be implemented in all municipalities affected by the earthquake: Durres, Tirana, Krujë, Laç, and Shijak. After they have served their purpose, the Better Shelters will be repurposed as additional accommodations or storage units for the local population”, he adds.
However, restoring the local communities during 2020 has been quite challenging as the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to spread within Europe.
“Because of COVID restrictions, we have unfortunately only been able to set up four units (three in Tirana and one in Durrës). We are currently in the process of setting up six more until the end of December 2020. The Albanian government had initially planned to finish the reconstruction process in late 2021. Still, due to the possibility of future restrictions, we think it might be realistic to plan for the process to take at least one year longer. If that happens, families can live in the RHU until their houses have been rebuilt.”
Saidi Bushaj, Albanian Red Cross project team member
“We are very happy that you provide us such good and warm accommodation in these cold days, even though we hope that they (the Albanian government, editor’s note) will keep their promises to build our houses,” says an anonymous user.
Better Shelter wants to thank the Albanian Red Cross for their hard work during a challenging year. Restoring communities that have been through natural disasters of the scale of the Albania earthquake is no small task, and we are very happy to have had such a positive collaboration. Most importantly, though, we are proud to see that Better Shelters are giving affected families safe and dignified shelter that can help speed up the recovery process.
