More than 27 buildings were badly damaged, with several reduced to dust, in Durres, a beach destination on the Adriatic coast.
Thousands of people spent the previous night sleeping in tents or on the grass of the city’s football stadium.
Many were afraid to return home as the aftershocks rattled nerves and temporarily halted rescue work.
During a visit to Durres, Prime Minister Edi Rama said the government would arrange for homeless families to be moved into hotels.
“We cannot spend the winter under open skies or in tents,” he said, pledging to put each family in a new home by 2020.
In the district of Keneta, emergency workers and relatives kept up the search for a family of six — two parents and four children — whose home was flattened by the earthquake.
“Hope is the last thing that dies,” said Asije, 40, a close relative of the Lala family who had moved to the port city from Albania’s poor north in search of a better life.
Another relative, Hasan Lala, was working with rescuers who used pickaxes, shovels and their hands to clear debris and move slabs of concrete.
“The rescue operation is very difficult because you can’t use heavy machinery, you have to work with your hands,” he said, as distraught neighbours watched from the house next door.
– Day of mourning –
Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe, but experts, rescue teams and emergency aid have flowed in from around the continent.
Tirana declared Wednesday a national day of mourning and cancelled festivities planned for Independence Day celebrations on November 28 and 29.
In an act of solidarity, neighbouring Kosovo, whose population is mostly ethnic Albanian, also went into official mourning.
Two Kosovar brothers, Shemsedin and Isa Abazi, were among those killed in Durres when their hotel collapsed, according to Pristina.
The powerful quake struck just before 4:00am (0300 GMT) on Tuesday.
Earthquakes are common in the Balkans due to the movements of two large tectonic plates — the African and Eurasian — and the smaller Adriatic micro-plate.
