On February 17, the EU will hold a donors’ conference in Brussels for Albania following the November 26 earthquake that left 51 dead.
“The EU is happy to announce that the donors’ conference for Albania will be on the 17 February. It’s a donors’ conference following the horrible earthquake in Albania. We want to help Albania in its reconstruction”, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said during a press conference in Zagreb to mark the start of the Croatian Presidency of the EU.
The 6.4-magnitude earthquake resulted in 51 fatalities, about 1,000 injured, and about 14,000 people temporarily displaced. Thousands of buildings have been seriously damaged, including schools and health care facilities.
The EU will help Albania with the reconstruction efforts and with coordinating international aid and donations.
Another objective is to help the country strengthen its capacity to handle similar emergency situations, following the poor immediate search and rescue response by the Albanian government after the earthquake.
The European Commission has already announced a €15 million grant for reconstruction.
The EU, UN, World Bank and the Albanian government are expected to finalize a needs assessment report ahead of the conference.
