International Experts Helping in Damage Assessment

TIRANA, December 4

Experts’ teams from the EU, Israel, Switzerland, and the US consisting of specialists and structural engineers have been dispatched to Albania following the earthquake that took 51 lives and left hundreds injured and thousands of damaged residential and commercial buildings.
The damage assessment and aid distribution in the affected areas is led by a team of 50 structural engineers from six European Union (EU) member states. Meanwhile, more are expected to come and work together with local authorities. A team of seven specialists from Hungary arrived in Albania on Tuesday.

A team of 15 specialists mobilized by the Swiss government arrived in Albania last week to help the country in the aftermath of the heaviest earthquake in decades. The team includes experts in two fields: engineers who evaluate the state of buildings and experts who assess needs and plan action to respond to them.

In the meantime, the US Agency for International Development has deployed structural engineers from the Fairfax County and Los Angeles County fire departments to assist with damage assessments.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dispatched a team of ten regular and reserve troops. The team led by the army’s Home Front Command will focus on surveying buildings to find whether they stayed structurally sound after the quake.

Source: local media

Photo Credit: Embassy of Switzerland