Lebanon: Building collapse toll in northern city up to 6

The toll in a building collapse in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Sunday rose to six dead, state media reported, as rescuers searched for survivors in the second such incident in weeks.

The state-run National News Agency reported "the collapse of an old building" in Tripoli's Bab al-Tabbaneh neighbourhood, the poorest in the impoverished city, adding that security personnel evacuated adjacent buildings fearing further collapses.

"Eight people have been rescued so far while five victims have been recovered, including a child and an elderly woman," it said earlier.

Other sources reported different tolls.

Local media showed images of residents and rescue workers trying to remove debris with basic equipment and their bare hands.

Civil defence chief Imad Khreish told local media that the building consisted of two blocks, each containing six apartments, and reported four dead.

He said residents estimated some 22 people were inside at the time of the collapse.

Tripoli mayor Abdel Hamid Karimeh told a press conference that "we declare Tripoli a disaster-stricken city" due to unsafe buildings.

He said six people had been killed, without citing the source of the figure.

"Thousands of our people in Tripoli are threatened due to years of neglect," he said, adding that "the situation is beyond the capabilities of the Tripoli municipality." 

The disaster came after another deadly building collapse in Tripoli late last month.

After that incident, the head of the higher relief authority, Bassam Nablusi, citing Tripoli municipality statistics, said that "105 buildings require immediate warning notices to their residents to evacuate".

Local media reported the structure that collapsed on Sunday was not included in a list of buildings at imminent risk.

Lebanon is dotted with derelict buildings, and many inhabited structures are in an advanced state of disrepair.

Many buildings were built illegally, especially during the 1975-1990 civil war, while some owners have added new floors to existing apartment blocks without permits.

A major 2023 earthquake centred in Turkey and Syria also damaged buildings in Lebanon particularly Tripoli, which is near the Syrian border.

President Joseph Aoun requested all emergency services mobilise "to assist in the rescue operations and provide shelter for the building's residents and those of neighbouring buildings that were evacuated" as a precaution, a statement from his office said.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the government was ready to provide housing allowances to residents of buildings requiring evacuation.

In a statement, he decried a "humanitarian catastrophe" that he said was caused by "long years of accumulated neglect".

A recent report by research and design firm Public Works Studio said several buildings fully or partially collapsed in Tripoli in January.

It cited causes including unplanned urban expansion and a lack of proper construction oversight in the relatively poor city, it said.

In 2024, rights group Amnesty International said "thousands of people" were still living in unsafe buildings in Tripoli more than a year after the earthquake.

Even before the quake, Tripoli residents "had raised the alarm about their dire housing situation, caused by decades of neglect and contractors' lack of compliance with safety regulations", it said.

The situation was compounded by Lebanon's years-long economic crisis "that has robbed residents of the means to afford repairs or alternative housing", it added, urging authorities to "urgently... assess the safety of buildings across the country". 

lg/dcp

© Agence France-Presse