After four months of drought and high temperatures, the people of Durrës welcomed Friday's rain with joy.
But not everyone has the same feeling.
A group of residents in the buildings on Currilave Street, by the sea, continue to see the hill above their apartments as a permanent risk of collapse.
Four months ago, the concrete retaining wall was torn apart by the moisture-laden soils, while pine trees were uprooted and supported on the first floor of the buildings.
Specialists are convinced that the buildings were built in the wrong place and that the sand and clay formations make it quite easy to slide towards ground level, that is, towards the sea.
Prof. Adem Hyseni has been monitoring this area since 1974, when he was preparing studies for oil and gas exploration.
Prof. Hyseni told BIRN that the alternating clay and sandstone rocks filter water to varying degrees, which destroys structures and facilitates massive landslides, especially in this area.
"This structure is quite endangered, which is also confirmed by seismic studies from the 1980s up to the territory of Kallmi in the north," added Prof. Adem Hyseni.
He further said that "I don't know the extent of the damage from the construction load after 2000."
The Currila Hill lies in the northwestern part of the city of Durrës, along the Adriatic coast, forming part of the hill range that continues towards Kallmi and Porto-Romano.
With steep slopes descending towards the sea, the area has traditionally been one of the most popular vacation spots for Durrës residents, thanks to the small beaches, greenery, and pine trees that once covered a large part of the hill.
From a geological point of view, the hill is mainly composed of alternating clay and sandstone sedimentary formations, created over millions of years. These formations have varying resistance to water and erosion.
Clays tend to swell when they absorb moisture and shrink during dry periods, while their combination with sandy layers creates favorable conditions for slope instability.
Erosion processes and landslides are well-known phenomena in this segment of the coast, documented in geological studies long before the construction of recent decades.
Over the last three decades, the landscape of Currila has changed significantly. From a mainly natural and recreational area, with small beaches and green slopes, the coast has gradually transformed into an urbanized space, where residential buildings, hotels, restaurants and service establishments have been built.
Landslides on Currilave Hill have been a recurring phenomenon for more than a decade, endangering the coastal road, businesses, and buildings built at the foot of the slope.
In 2014, the Ministry of Environment undertook a rehabilitation project, which included the installation of protective nets, greening, and the construction of recreational infrastructure, but it was not successful.
Neritan Vila, one of the family members of the damaged building, told BIRN that initially the presence of municipal and civil emergency inspectors was more visible.
Due to the obvious danger, the municipality offered temporary shelter in the premises of the Ministry of Interior rest house as a solution.
Residents found individual solutions and quickly returned to their apartments, as did some of the residents living abroad.
According to him, in the most endangered building, with 40 apartments, only 15-16 families live there year-round, but some of them have bought 2-3 apartments for other family members, as the building is located by the sea, in one of the most beautiful places in the city.
But after the spring landslides, the only thing of value seems to be a project of reinforcing interventions on the hillside, without undertaking the investment to restore normality to the area.
The municipality, in response to BIRN's request, said that along with the engineering-seismological study, an expert report assessing the structural bearing capacity of the existing building has also been prepared.
All documents have been sent to the relevant institutions at the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Defense and Civil Emergencies.
The municipality has asked these institutions to also foresee the appropriate investment for the restoration of normality.
Geologist Prof. Adem Hyseni is not optimistic. He brings up the case of a bunker built on the crest of a hill in 1982.
"That bunker slid 40 years later from a height of 96 meters and, due to an obstacle, fortunately remained halfway up the hill, because who knows how much damage it would have caused," explained Prof. Adem Hyseni. /birn
