1st Croatian Conference on Earthquake Engineering 1CroCEE 2021

In autumn 2019 North-Western Albania was struck by series of earthquakes: the first major occurred on September 22nd (M5.6) and the second on November 26th (M6.4). After the second earthquake with more than 50 fatalities the EU Civil Protection Mechanism was activated at the request of the Albanian authorities. Immediately after mobilizing urban search and rescue teams (USAR) an EU Civil Protection Team (EUCPT) was deployed to help the authorities to coordinate the response (including logistic, in-kind help, humanitarian needs, etc.) and to assist in the damage assessment. For this purpose EUCPT and UNDAC (United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination) established Damage Assessment and Coordination Cell (DACC) which – among others – assisted local authorities in field operations in terms of coordination of assessment, registration / introduction of international experts and in compiling coherent credible daily assessment reports.
Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Civil Protection and disaster relief (URSZR) nominated the authors of presented paper to help coordinate international assistance in the aftermath of the earthquake. As members of EUCP Team Bravo they participated mainly as support to the local teams in on-site damage assessment. This paper points out the general aspects of EU Civil Protection Mechanism, its role/tasks and pros/cons of used assessment procedures and work in international assessment teams. The main aim of the paper is presentation of typical structural damage patterns observed in urban and rural areas of Durrës County.