Albania's deadliest earthquake in 99 years and the world's deadliest earthquake of 2019, killing 51 people and injuring around 3,000.
Key Facts
- Magnitude
- 6.4 Mw
- Death toll
- 51 people
- Injured
- ~3,000 people
- Duration
- at least 50 seconds
- Max felt intensity
- VIII (Severe) MMI
- Epicentre distance from Mamurras
- 16 km
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Northwestern Albania sits in a seismically active zone where tectonic stresses along the Adriatic-Eurasian plate boundary regularly produce significant earthquakes. The region had already experienced another notable earthquake within the three months preceding the event, reflecting ongoing subsurface geological instability.
On 26 November 2019 at 03:54 CET, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck northwestern Albania with its epicentre 16 kilometres west-southwest of Mamurras. Lasting at least 50 seconds, it reached a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and was felt as far away as Bari, Taranto, and Belgrade, some 370 kilometres from the epicentre.
The earthquake killed 51 people and injured approximately 3,000, making it Albania's deadliest seismic event in 99 years and the deadliest earthquake worldwide in 2019. It was also the strongest earthquake to hit Albania in more than 40 years, causing widespread structural damage across the affected northwestern region.
Human Cost
Each dot represents approximately 10,000 deaths. Total estimated: 51 (earthquake)