TIRANA, October 5/ATA/- 14 EU countries and 2 other non-member countries expressed immediately their solidarity with Albanian families affected by earthquake shocks of 21 September 2019.
Their donations were sent to the General Directorate of Material Reserves of the State where there was organized even an event attended by Defense Minister Olta Xhaçka, Head of the European Union Delegation Luigi Soreca, ambassadors and heads of the Directorate General of Civil Emergencies and State Reserves.
Minister Xhaçka thanked the contributing countries for the assistance in this difficult time and assured the affected citizens for the reconstruction of their houses.
“All the collapsed buildings will be rebuilt from the state budget reserve fund for civil emergencies, but also from the solidarity fund that has already been raised. While rebuilding is a short-term challenge to ease the situation for these families as much as possible, the biggest challenge we face as a state, as a government, is to take all measures and be prepared for the situations and events that may happen as a result of natural disasters or civil emergencies ”- said Minister Xhaçka.
The ambassador of Italy to our country Alberto Cutillo and that of Slovenia Peter Japelj praised the reaction of the Albanian authorities and especially the Ministry of Defense after the earthquake shakes.
The head of the European Union Delegation to Albania Luigi Soreca underlined the readiness of the countries, which, according to him, reacted only 2 days after the activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
The assistance from EU member states such as Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Slovenia, as well as non-member countries Montenegro and Norway, comprises mainly of equipment and tools for fast and temporary housing, as well as expertise through European specialists of Civil Emergencies./j.p/p.s./
