TIRANA, Albania - A disaster report says the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that hit Albania in November caused $1.1 billion in damages as well as killing 51 people and leaving 17,000 others homeless. The assessment report presented Wednesday was prepared by 60 Albanian and international experts from the European Union, World Bank and the United Nations. Bledi Cuci, Albanian minister in charge of post-quake efforts, said damage from the Nov. 26 quake was calculated at about 985 million euros ($1.1 billion) and reconstruction needs at almost 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion). Cuci said the government has allocated $200 million (180 million euros), the EU already has given Albania 13 million euros ($14 million) in grants and civic organizations are also contributing. The general earthquake reconstruction process will continue for five years.

Source: thestar February 05, 2020 12:11 UTC