Heavy rainfall in recent months flooded several towns and villages, damaging infrastructure and isolating communities.
At the end of November 2025, the swelling Shkumbin River collapsed a bridge built in 2007 that connected the village of Xhyrë in Librazhd to the main road, isolating about 340 families in the area for several weeks.
The event was real, the emergency too. However, an extraordinary phenomenon accompanied this situation. The repair of the bridge by the Engineering Department of the Armed Forces turned it into one of the most photographed objects on social networks by politicians.
One bridge, 13 visits, 50 photographs, 6 videos, hundreds of articles in the media from the Mayor of Librazhd, the MP for the area, the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Defense.
Politicians visited the Xhyra Bridge before the intervention, during the intervention, returned in the middle of the night, and inaugurated it after it was restored to function.
"When the emergency becomes a scene"
With microphones placed at the entrance to the village, the greeting "How are you?" is repeated dozens of times without end by the Mayor of Librazhd Mariglen Disha and MP Olsi Komici, as they meet in line with residents and employees from the engineering department who were working on the road construction.
All of this appearance was, of course, accompanied by their own cameras and not those of the media.
"We gave you the floor together with the MP that the bridge would be finished before the New Year, and the bridge was finished before the New Year," said the head of the Librazhd municipality, Disha.
This narrative is supported by the MP, who among other things said: "Since Marigleni won, since I won, we will be with you every day of the year, next to you, side by side with you. This challenge, or natural disaster I would call it, showed what we promised. When we make promises, we keep them", said MP Olsi Komici.
In fact, this is the purpose why we elect political representatives or administrators of our money, to be close to citizens in emergency situations in this specific case, but not only. Prevention by investing in infrastructure and its maintenance is another case, which in Albania of the recent floods did not result in such.
The video is accompanied by music that evokes a difficult situation, where from a difficult moment there has been hope and recovery. However, the first publication about this bridge was made on November 21, 2025 by the Minister of Interior, Albana Kociu, who inspected the old bridge and the establishment of the security perimeter, not allowing passage.
"Together with local structures, the State Police, the armed forces and Civil Protection teams, we are coordinating actions to restore vehicle access to the bridge as quickly as possible, while the old road is being used as an alternative. Our engagement on the ground continues without interruption," the minister said at the time.
Immediately after this, MP Komici appeared on the ground to follow the situation, which was also reflected on social networks. However, this was not his only post about this bridge. Five posts on the MP's Facebook social network followed the construction of the bridge, during the construction process and in the evening hours.
"Work continues non-stop on the construction of the Xhyra bridge," he shared on December 23, 2025 with followers on social media.
This communication was also followed by Mayor Disha, with six such posts on the social network Facebook, even on December 31st.
"Thanks to the immediate response and cooperation between the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces and the Librazhd Municipality, the complete reconstruction of the bridge was made possible in record time," said Mayor Disha on Facebook.
At the beginning of the new year, the bridge came back into the spotlight again on January 16, after it was visited by the Minister of Defense, Pirro Vengu.
"Immediate response and full intervention for the repair of the bridge," Minister Vengu said on Facebook, while using this visit to the Xhyra bridge to show all the interventions made by the ministry for the rehabilitation of critical infrastructure during this period throughout the territory of Albania.
Followed by a collage of photos from the field visit, published by Mayor Mariglen Disha.
The Xhyra Bridge is functional today, but the questions that arise relate to public communication in cases of emergencies.
The walking of political representatives, with microphones attached to their press office jackets and not those of journalists, shifting accountability from journalists to propaganda communication.
The Xhyrës Bridge was rebuilt, and with it a communication model that places the citizen in the background, behind the narrative of personal and institutional success./Citizens
