TIRANA, Dec 19/ATA/- Albanian and international engineers, with support from the EU Civil Protection Team, have assessed 8100 buildings that were identified as critical by the Albanian authorities in the Municipality of Vora.
The verification process has been carried out according to standardized forms established by the European Union, the World Bank and UNDP and with the involvement of 35 groups of local and foreign engineers.
Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Hantin Bonati stated that, “the assessment of the damaged buildings following the earthquake of November 26, is the cornerstone of solving the problems created by this disaster, both in terms of the immediate measures being taken to address the problems and in relation to the short-term reconstruction plan.”
“I want to express my grateful thanks to the 35 groups of Albanian and international engineers for their hard work on the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) prepared by the EU, World Bank and United Nations, “Deputy Minister Bonati said.
The assessment focused on establishing the structural integrity of the buildings and understanding the scale of damage, in order to plan for the recovery phase.
Meanwhile, the foreign and Albanian engineers and experts will be headed to other earthquake-affected areas such as to Tirana, Durrës and Lezha to help determine whether the buildings left standing can still be inhabited or to help construct buildings to replace those that were destroyed.//a.i/
