Last night I awoke suddenly at 3 am to discover that there was an earthquake going on. The sight is always frightful, but even more so when this happens at night.
As I tried to figure out how severe it
was and how long it would last, my only other thought was to figure our if we all needed to get out of the apartment building.
Even my wife, who is a heavy sleeper, felt the tremors and had awakened.
Thankfully, the whole thing was over in a matter of seconds and we could feel safer knowing that it was gone without any other damage.
I could not help but post about it in FB and was surprised to get almost immediate responses from people living in Tirana. Later, during the day, I was to learn that the earthquake was stronger in other cities like Belsh, Cerik and Lushnjë.
One of the people who commented on my status, who is currently abroad, was mostly concerned about her sister and family. Her main concern was the fact that many buildings in Tirana and Albania have not been built with the best construction materials and standards, thus putting a lot of people in danger in such rare but unforeseeable cases.
Such is the reality of living in this place.