Rescuers in Albania use drones and dogs to find quake victims

DONOR CONFERENCE

At least 250 aftershocks - three of them magnitude 5 - shook Albania continuing into Wednesday. Hundreds of people spent the night sleeping in tents pitched by the emergency services.

Italy, France, Romania, Turkey, Greece, Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia have sent 200 specialised troops, tools and teams of tracker dogs to help the relief effort.

The government proclaimed Wednesday a day of mourning and Prime Minister Edi Rama said the authorities would rehouse people who had lost their homes in hotels during the winter.

"I believe we shall put them in new houses within 2020, in better housing than they had," Rama said in a televised comment.

He said a donor conference with Turkey and regional countries would be organised and he would discuss potential help with NATO allies during next week's summit in London.

Albania is the poorest country in Europe, with per capita income a quarter of the European Union average, according to the International Monetary Fund.

In Thumane, a man called Adrian Muci said six of his relatives had died in two separate buildings and his own house was on the point of collapse.

"I have other cousins and relatives but I don't know where they are and if they are dead or not," he told Reuters. "I will never be able to live in my house any more."

                                                                                                      Reuters