At least nine people died on Sunday when a building collapsed in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, according to a new toll released as searches continue in the rubble.
This is the second disaster of this kind in a few weeks in Tripoli, where many properties are still considered high risk following a strong earthquake in the area in February 2023.
The building, old, was located in the poor neighborhood of Bab al-Thabana, where security forces hastily evacuated residents of neighboring properties as a precaution, according to the official Lebanese news agency ANI.
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Civil protection chief Imad Haris told the press that nine people died in yesterday's collapse, while six others were taken to hospital.
The building had two sections, each with six apartments, and around 22 people were believed to be inside when it collapsed, he said.
In the middle of the night, rescue teams continued to work in the rubble, while ambulances waited, parked a short distance away, an AFP journalist saw.
"We are declaring Tripoli a disaster-stricken city" because many of its buildings remain unsafe, said Mayor Abdel Hamid Karima.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun ordered the mobilization of all emergency services and the provision of shelter to the residents of the collapsed building and to those residents of neighboring buildings who had to be urgently evacuated, according to a statement from his office.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam spoke in his own statement about a "disaster" that he attributed to "years of accumulated neglect."
In late January, another building collapsed in Tripoli, causing deaths.
Lebanon has a lot of dilapidated buildings. Many properties were built illegally, especially during the civil war (1975-1990), while some owners added floors to buildings without permits.
In 2024, the human rights organization Amnesty International estimated that "thousands of people" were living in dangerous buildings in Tripoli more than a year after the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria above all.
It noted at the time that the ongoing economic crisis was depriving “residents of the means to finance repairs” or relocate “to other homes” and called on authorities “to urgently assess the safety of buildings across the country.”
Source: protothema.gr
