Tirana”•A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Albania early Tuesday killing four people, according to officials and local media, and sparking panic in the capital Tirana and other cities.
The epicenter of the quake, the strongest in the region in decades, was about 34 kilometers northwest of Tirana, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center.
“There is considerable damage,” defense ministry Albana Qajahaj told AFP.
A man in his fifties died after jumping several stories from a building in Kurbin in the northwest of the country, the defesce ministry said.
A three-story hotel in the port town of Durres collapsed while another building in the city center was badly damaged.
Damage was also reported in Thumana, 30 kilometers northwest of Tirana.
Around 50 people with light injuries were being treated in hospital in the capital, Health Minister Ogerta Manasterliu said.
Other reports said 150 people were treated for light injuries.
The quake was felt across the Balkans, from Sarajevo to Bosnia and even in the Serbian city of Novi Sad almost 700 kilometers away, according to reports in local media and on social networks.
It was followed by several aftershocks, including one of magnitude 5.3, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center.
The same region of Albania was hit by a 5.6-magnitude quake in September, described by authorities as the strongest earthquake of the last 20-30 years.
The Balkans is an area prone to seismic activity and earthquakes are frequent.