An earthquake of magnitude 3.7 on the Richter scale hit Albania on Friday morning, with its epicentre around 16 kilometres from Gjirokastër. The tremor, recorded at 08:09 at a depth of around 5 kilometres, was also felt in the Ohrid-Struga region, where it woke up some residents.

So far there is no information about injuries or material damage, the seismological services and the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre reported. The competent institutions are monitoring the situation, but for now it appears the tremor passed without serious consequences.

For a region sitting on an active seismic zone, mornings like this are no rarity - but they always carry the same brief thought when the windows shake. Albania and western Macedonia share not only a border, but the same underground nervousness. Today it passed with people woken and nothing more. Next time it doesn't have to be that way - and the question of how ready we are for a stronger tremor stays open every morning.