The chemicals that were once stored in Mrs Jani's new home have been moved to another store near the sea shore, but the roof leaks and the chemicals are dissolving in the rain. The smell scorches the lungs. Breathing in the fumes there could be instantly fatal, but there are no homes nearby. The pesticides from the contaminated area, along with the raw sewage from the city, are pumped into the sea, but there is no ban on local lobsters and crabs being sold. The mayor of Durres, Miri Hoti, is not sympathetic to the refugees.
People build all over the banned area.
We have public land in clean areas to build houses, but no money. It is a common theme among officials. Albania has only just begun to recover from 50 years of a repressive communist regime, followed by 10 years of virtual anarchy, the collapse of the economy in a pyramid-selling scandal in 1997 and a war in neighbouring Kosovo which brought half a million refugees into the country. First we had to find out the extent of the problems, and the UN has helped us do that. Now no one can claim in Albania they do not know it is dangerous.