The death toll from a powerful Albanian earthquake rose to 50 as the search for survivors was called off, Prime Minister Edi Rama said Saturday.

The 6.4 magnitude quake that hit the Balkan country before dawn on Tuesday was the most deadly and destructive in decades, and left about 5,000 people homeless.

"The number of the earthquake victims reached 50 and rescue operations have ended," Rama told a cabinet meeting while struggling to hold back tears.

Entire families were crushed in their homes while they were sleeping, forcing relatives and neighbours to watch in agony as rescue teams pulled bodies from the ruins this week.

About 900 people were injured, of whom 41 are still hospitalised, according to the defence ministry.

The damage was the worst near the Adriatic coast in the port city of Durres and the town of Thumane, where scores of people were trapped beneath the wreckage of apartment buildings and hotels.

The funeral of eight members of the Lala family, including four children, killed in Durres was to be held later on Saturday.

Only one member of the family, Rame Lala, 19, survived when his four-storey home collapsed.

He sustained serious injures and was evacuated to Italy with two other victims for specialised care.

Nearly 2,500 people from the worst-hit areas have been moved into hotels or other buildings.

Another 3,480 people in the capital Tirana, where there were no casualties, fled to shelters, with some now housed in reception centres and others staying in the homes of relatives, Rama said.

The prime minister on Saturday expressed "deep gratitude" to rescue teams from Albania and around Europe who had pulled some 50 people from the ruins.

Rama met a French team in Durres on Friday, commenting that "two weeks ago, football world champions were in Albania", in reference to a Euro 2020 qualifying match against France.

Now it was "world champions in rescuing the lives of others" who had showed up, he said on Twitter.

Rana also attended the burials of nine people from two families who had died in Thumane.

Towns in one of Europe's poorest countries, which has a population of 2.8 million people, developed chaotically after the fall of communism in the 1990s.

Experts say a lot of construction took place without respect for building codes and with cheaper materials.

Albanians hold mass funeral for earthquake victims
Thuman�, Albania (AFP) Nov 29, 2019 - Albanian families buried their loved ones on Friday and the country mourned the 49 people known to have died in this week's earthquake, as officials grapple with the destruction left in its wake.

Entire families were crushed by their homes when the 6.4 magnitude earthquake -- the most deadly and devastating in decades -- jolted the Balkan country before dawn on Tuesday.

In the town of Thumane, where numerous buildings collapsed, loved ones wept before the six wooden coffins of the Cara family and three more belonging to the Greku family.

The victims were among more than 20 people whose bodies were pulled from ruins in Thumane, where a sombre silence reigned on Friday after the frenzy of the search effort had ceased a day earlier.

"Respect the dead," said Fatmir, a relative of the Cara family, shooing away media.

Prime Minister Edi Rama attended the funerals, kneeling down to toss dirt on the coffins in a local custom of respect.

In a message of condolences posted on Facebook, he wrote in Albanian "You will never be alone".

In the other hard-hit coastal city of Durres, search efforts focused on a toppled hotel on the Adriatic shore.

Around 45 people have been rescued this week by relief teams who worked around the clock with foreign experts -- who brought dogs, cameras and other equipment to comb the rubble.

Of some 750 people who were treated for injuries, three victims were flown to Italy on Friday for specialised care.

Among them was the sole survivor of the Lala family in Durres, 17-year-old Rame Lala. He lost eight relatives when their four-storey home was flattened by the tremor.

- 5,000 displaced -

"We have all been touched and wounded," Edi Rama said in the morning as Albania, one of the poorest countries in Europe, took stock of the losses.

His voice strained as he mentioned the death of a close friend of his son, a medical student whose body was found in the rubble with her brother and two parents.

Rama, who has promised to build new homes for the victims by 2020, said almost $7 million had already been received in donations.

In Durres and Thumane, almost 2,000 people have been moved into hotels or other buildings -- either because of severe damage to their homes or because hundreds of aftershocks made their apartments unsafe.

Another 3,480 people in the capital Tirana fled to shelters, with some now housed in reception centres and many staying in the homes of relatives, Rama said.

There were no casualties in Tirana but nearly 70 buildings and 250 homes were damaged.

Defence Minister Olta Xhacka urged residents to leave any homes affected by the quake, saying experts were preparing to asses the risks.

"The situation of buildings with damaged structures is as dangerous as on the first day, so don't stay there, leave them," she said.

Albania's towns developed chaotically after the fall of communism in the 1990s.

A lot of construction was done "without a building permit, without respecting rules... using non-standard materials", local architect Maks Velo told AFP.

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More than 20 dead as Albania hunts for earthquake survivors
Durres, Albania (AFP) Nov 26, 2019
Albanian rescuers searched rubble through the night looking for survivors trapped in buildings that toppled Tuesday in the strongest earthquake to hit the country in decades, with more than 20 dead and hundreds injured. Teams of soldiers, police and emergency workers sifted through the debris of shredded apartment blocks and hotels in towns near Albania's northwest Adriatic coast, close to the epicentre of the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that rattled the country before dawn. By evening the toll wa ... read more