Albania, newly built on shaky ground

Market in Tirana, March 2017

Thomas Imo · Photothek · Getty

There is a 20km strip of coast south of the city of Durrës that sums up Albania's recent history. During the national-communist dictatorship (1945-91) its fine sandy beaches were backed by pine woods, the occasional hotel and the villas of the party elite. (It is less than an hour from the capital, Tirana.) After eastern Europe's most hermetic regime collapsed, new buildings replaced the trees, and construction increased until hotels and apartments blocked access to the sea. Not until last November's magnitude 6.4 earthquake did gaps reappear.

'Many buildings were constructed on sand or boggy ground, with very shallow foundations,' said professor of civil engineering Luljeta Bozo. 'It was obvious that the slightest tremor would bring them down. Fortunately, many were unoccupied — they're just a way of laundering money. Otherwise the loss of life would have been much worse.' The official death toll was 51. Albania is in a high seismic hazard zone, but the earthquake was more than a natural disaster: mafia-style neoliberal deregulation significantly worsened its impact. Those with power and money ignore town planning, when it exists.

The students have rejected intrusion by political parties, especially the opposition. They realise that what we call democracy is really corrupt pluralism undermined by the logic of cronyism Arlind Qori

Bozo warned of the dangers of illegal construction on TV Klan two days after a quake caused significant damage in September 2019, and said further shocks were inevitable. 'I was treated like a madwoman and no action was taken after this dress rehearsal for disaster.' The authorities just arrested two journalists who had also warned of the risk for 'spreading fake news to cause panic'.

'No cement for construction'

The November 2019 quake also struck Thumanë, a small town 30km north of Tirana, perched above the coastal plain, which was regarded as unhealthy until after the (…)

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Jean-Arnault Dérens & Laurent Geslin

Jean-Arnault Dérens and Laurent Geslin are journalists on Le Courrier des Balkans and the authors of Là où se mêlent les eaux: des Balkans au Caucase (Where waters mingle: from the Balkans to the Caucasus), La Découverte, Paris, 2018.

(2) World Bank (growth figures) and IMF (unemployment rate).

(3) Albanian Institute of Statistics (Instat), Tirana.

(4) 'Edi Rama: "L'Albania è meglio dell'Italia? Perché è senza sindacati" ' (Edi Rama: 'Why is Albania better than Italy? Because it has no unions'), Linkiesta, Milan, 6 June 2015.

(6) Eurostat and Instat.

(7) 'Local elections, 30 June 2019', Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Warsaw, 5 September 2019.

(9) See Jean-Arnault Dérens and Laurent Geslin, 'Balkan borderlands', Le Monde diplomatique, English edition, August 2019.

Source: mondediplo.com