A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday for the construction of 522 residences by the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKI) in the Albanian town of Lac. Residences will be allotted to people who lost their homes in two earthquakes in September and November 2019.

"They will be a new symbol of Turkish-Albanian friendship," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said via video link to the ceremony in Albania, which was attended in person by Minister of Environment and Urban Development Murat Kurum and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

The project, which will cost around 42 million euros ($51 million), also includes 37 commercial units and a parking garage for 375 vehicles.

Fifty-one people died and more than 900 people were injured in a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in November 2019. It was preceded by an earthquake of lesser magnitude in September. The town of Lac was among the most affected areas, where most of the houses were heavily damaged.

International aid poured in for the country, which last saw such a major earthquake in 1979. Turkey hosted a donors’ conference for assistance in December 2019. It also sent an airplane carrying search and rescue crews as well as emergency humanitarian aid such as food, hygiene kits, tents and blankets in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. More aid was later sent by the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay), the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).

Erdoğan said at the ceremony that Turkey was mobilized to help Albania, "a close friend and partner of Turkey in the Balkans." "We see the joy of Albanian people as our joy and their sorrow as our sorrow," he said.

"We hope to finish the construction and hand over new residences to our brothers and sisters who lost their homes in the earthquake. I believe that under the leadership of my friend Edi Rama, we will erase the traces of this disaster completely soon," Erdoğan said.