November 26, 2019 Earthquake: Durres, Thumane, Tirana, Albania

Ref #1053:

Tectonic Summary

The November 26, 2019, M 6.4 Albania earthquake occurred as the result of thrust faulting near the convergent boundary of the Africa and Eurasia plates. Focal mechanism solutions indicate reverse slip on a shallow or steeply dipping fault. Northwest-Southeast striking reverse faulting is consistent with the tectonics of the region. At the location of this event, the Africa plate converges with the Eurasia plate at a rate of 73 mm/year.

Tectonics of the Mediterranian Sea, in the convergent boundary region between Africa and Eurasia, are complex, and involve the motions of numerous microplates and regional-scale structures. In the context of the November 26, 2019 earthquake, reverse faulting in Albania on the eastern shores of the Adriatic is consistent with the closing of that sea, and shortening across the mountain belts stretching from Croatia to Greece.

Large earthquakes are common in this region; seven M6 and larger events have occurred within 150 km of this November 26 earthquake over the past 100 years. The largest was a M6.9 earthquake on April 15, 1979 that occured 70 km to the north-northeast of the November 26th earthquake, killing 100 people in Montenegro, 35 in Albania and leaving 100,000 people homeless. A M6.7 earthquake on November 30, 1967, 80 km to the east of today's event, resulted in 19 fatalities and significant damage in the surrounding region.

Ref #12558:

Rescue crews with excavators searched for survivors trapped in toppled apartment buildings and hotels Tuesday as the death toll from a powerful pre-dawn earthquake in Albania climbed to 21, with more than 600 people injured.

"It is a dramatic moment where we should preserve calm, (and) stay alongside each other to cope with this shock," Prime Minister Edi Rama said. He later visited Durres, where 12 people died, and the northern town of Thumane where another seven people were killed by a collapsing apartment building. One person died after jumping from his home to escape in Kurbin, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Tirana, while another was killed on a road that collapsed in the northern town of Lezha.

In total at least three hotels, a residential villa and an apartment building collapsed in Durres, and one apartment building in Thumane.

Ref #12559:

The search and rescue operation for earthquake survivors in Albania has ended, the prime minister said Saturday, with the death toll at 51 and no more bodies believed to be in the ruins. Prime Minister Edi Rama said preliminary figures showed more than 1,465 buildings in the capital, Tirana, and about 900 in nearby Durres were seriously damaged in Tuesday's 6.4-magnitude pre-dawn quake. About 2,000 people were injured.

Ref #12640:

The 6.3-magnitude earthquake that hit Albania on November 26 caused €985mn in damages [...]

The earthquake destroyed more than 11,000 buildings, damaged 83,000 buildings and affected more than 200,000 people in the municipalities of Durres and Lezhe and in the capital Tirana.

Ref #13727:

1.064 billion USD in economic loss