Natural disaster policy

2026-01-08 11:12:00, Editorial CNA

In 2026, Albania continues to have the same face in politics as it did 16 years ago. It's just that the parties in power are changing.

When the floods occurred in December 2010, Prime Minister Edi Rama came out and said that it was not a natural disaster, it was the government's fault that the country was flooding.

Now, after 16 years, Sali Berisha comes out and says the government is to blame, corruption is, not nature and the heavy rains.

Beyond any justification, if things are looked at clearly, it turns out that all parties are responsible.

Floods in Durrës/ Water floods homes, residents appeal for help
January 6, 09:22

But first, the person himself, the citizen, is responsible, and then nature.

In the swamp area of ??Durrës, from the word "swamp" , we Albanians are people who have built in the swamp . We went, we seized land and we built in the swamp and now we tell the state why we are drowning. If you build in the swamp, you will drown.

Can houses and apartments be built in the Maliqi swamp, in the former swamp that is said to have been reclaimed? Can people live there?

It's the same with Durrës, but people built. Then the state must invest, those houses must be legalized, the costs are like in every country in Europe. Citizens must provide for their houses, the state must invest according to the taxes they pay to build as many sewers, drainage, water tanks, etc.

Floods in Durrës/ Hundreds of homes and families affected, school suspension continues
January 7, 09:59

But to build in a swamp and then play politics and make accusations, sometimes one side, sometimes the other, that corruption is to blame, that one political party or the other is to blame, that is disgusting. When you build in a swamp, you expect flooding.

Let the DP invest as much as it wants, let the SP invest as much as it wants, let Sali Berisha be prime minister, this situation will repeat itself every time there is rain. Politics should not be done with such disasters. But here our parties are the same as 16 years ago, then Rama was accusing, today Berisha is accusing.

Should it have been invested in these 16 years?

Absolutely. But no matter how much investment is made, if you build in a swamp, there will always be flooding. If you build in a riverbed, or where the river emerges and for centuries it has been known that it has emerged and has its own bed, there will still be flooding.

Political parties can accuse each other all they want, but before that, they must take responsibility for not allowing construction in such areas, in swampy areas, in areas near river banks, near streams, because they may not emerge for three years or five, but when they swell and emerge and there is rainfall and extraordinary situations, they can cause damage and even death.

The Ishëm River overflows its banks, flooding homes in Katundi i Ri
January 8, 09:46

Therefore, rather than accusing each other, political parties should tighten the laws, they should tighten the state to prevent construction in places where people's lives are at risk, and secondly, invest as much as possible in areas where construction has already taken place and the state has left them for 35 years and now has nothing to do with them, even though political parties accuse each other of corruption./ CNA