Four decades since the catastrophic earthquake that struck Montenegro in 1979 (VIDEO)

It's been forty years since the most devastating earthquake that hit Montenegro on April 15, 1979. Its strength was seven degrees of the Richter scale and it caused catastrophic devastation with the intensity of nine degrees Merkali's scale on the entire Montenegrin coast, over 100 kilometers in length. The earthquake epicenter was located in the Adriatic Sea, between Ulcinj and Bar, at a distance of 15 kilometers from the coast. In this earthquake, 101 people lost their lives in Montenegro and 35 in Albania.

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The cities were damaged, Ulcinj, Bar, Petrovac, Budva, Tivat, Kotor, Risan, and Herceg Novi, and 250 suburbs were destroyed.

A huge part of modern hotel capacities in the region was destroyed, 53 health objects were damaged, 570 objects for Social Welfare and Child Protection were damaged, 240 school objects were also damaged.

Cultural and historical monuments (monasteries, churches, museums, archives) were especially damaged, which are concentrated mainly in the most endangered coastal belt. Large damages were on the road network - about 350 kilometers of main and 200 kilometers of regional roads were damaged.

One of the specific manifestations of soil damage caused by the earthquake was the occurrence of liquefaction (soil flow), landslides and slopes. 

By the end of 1979, 90 strong earthquakes were recorded, with a magnitude greater than or equal to four degrees, over 100 earthquakes with a magnitude of 3.5 - 4.0, as well as nearly 10,000 weaker earthquakes.

A dozen merciless seconds on the fifteenth of April morning in 1979 changed the appearance of the Montenegrin coast and its hinterland. "Pobjeda", then the only printed daily newspaper in Montenegro, on the same afternoon, printed an edition on eight pages.

- It was terrible, the hills were shaking. We barely managed to get to the door, everything was already destroyed. The children were jumping out of the windows. It was a great fortune that we are all alive and well - part of many confessions told to the newspapers of "Pobjeda" in Old Bar.

A girl from Kumbor said that she was awakened by a terrible noise, everything was shaking for ten seconds, she jumped out of the window and the house was split in half. A young man from Bijela said that the things around him came alive, that the bed started dancing.

In the first hours after the earthquake, people helped each other on their own, and the collective action started after the Republican Civil Protection Staff organized the plan. The Federal Assembly passed the Law on the Reconstruction of the Montenegrin coastline, and all Yugoslav republics participated in restoration, and the help came from all over the world.

Traces of natural disasters have long been erased, and the modern faces of Montenegrin tourist centers are now among the prestigious on the map of the world. The scars remained, especially in the hearts of those who lost heir closest in the disaster.

Look at the photos HERE.

(Telegraf.co.uk / cmd.me)