Tripoli (Lebanon) (AFP) - Adnan Mardash mourns bitterly for his neighbors who died under the rubble, and for his shop, which was leveled to the ground as a result of a building collapsing on the heads of its residents in the city of Tripoli, northern Lebanon, in a tragedy that resulted in the deaths of 14 people and once again highlighted the authorities’ neglect of public safety standards.

Published on: 09/02/2026 - 19:55

On Sunday afternoon, an old building consisting of 12 apartments collapsed in the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood in Tripoli, the largest city in northern Lebanon, known for the suffering of many of its residents from extreme poverty and difficult living conditions.

Mardash (54 years old), who closed his shop located on the ground floor of the building before its collapse, told Agence France-Presse: “Our neighbors and loved ones died, for ten years, we and them. We lost them... and people lost their livelihoods and we were among them.”

The man, a father of four daughters who has been working in his small shop for 35 years, narrates, “We felt that the building condition was not good, and we contacted the municipality, but we did not receive an answer.”

On the narrow street leading to the place, looks and fatigue appear on the faces of the residents, including Mardash, who confirms that he has no other source of income. He says, "No one asks about the poor person. If there was an official in this building, it would be repaired within seconds."

From the balconies of old, adjacent buildings, women and children watched the rescue teams as they removed the rubble with difficulty.

In front of his neighboring store, Nasr Fadel (60 years old) cries as he recalls the scene of the building’s collapse. He says, "We live here in extreme poverty. We have been through wars, and we have raised our children. We cannot describe what we saw."

Before the unprecedented economic crisis that Lebanon has witnessed since 2019, more than half of Tripoli’s population lived at or below the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

The building collapsed in a crowded street separating the areas of Al-Tabbaneh, with a Sunni majority, and Jabal Mohsen, with an Alawite majority, which witnessed many clashes between 2007 and 2014, most of them against the backdrop of the conflict in Syria.

The traces of bullets and shells on the buildings still bear witness to the ferocity of the battles.

The clashes and then the earthquake that struck Türkiye and Syria in 2023, and Lebanon was affected, worsened the condition of the buildings.

A "stricken" city

The collapse of the building sparked a state of anger mixed with anxiety in the alleys of Tripoli, where dozens of dilapidated or cracked buildings are interconnected, especially since this is the second incident within two weeks in the city. The authorities did not take measures to prevent the tragedy from recurring, despite warnings about the large number of buildings that could collapse.

On Sunday, the municipality of Tripoli declared the city a “disaster” and called on the authorities to assume their responsibilities.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced after an emergency government session on Monday that the authorities had decided to “evacuate the 114 buildings vulnerable to collapse,” and that this would be done in stages within a period not exceeding a month. He pledged to provide housing allowances to families for a year.

600 buildings need “direct intervention to strengthen,” according to Mayor Abdel Hamid Karima, who warned of a “major tragedy” because estimates may exceed that.

Karima attributed the current situation to the “absence of the state,” as well as violations in old buildings that have been inhabited by tenants for decades in exchange for a small rent.

The municipality has evacuated 12 buildings so far, and transferred their residents to a hotel institute.

In late January, a building collapsed in the Al-Qubba area of ​​Tripoli, killing a man and his daughter after they were among the individuals who refused to leave the building despite the risk of its collapse.

That day, Youssef Ahmed (80 years old) lost his home, which he had lived in for more than five decades, and moved in with his daughter.

He explained to Agence France-Presse, “No one provided us with assistance,” pointing out that the city has “MPs and wealthy people...no one asked about our situation.”

"structural defect"

The collapse of buildings was not limited to Tripoli, but other regions recorded similar incidents in recent years, in a country where construction safety standards for buildings are often not adhered to, and some of them were built randomly for decades on communal lands.

Architect Abeer Saksouk, an expert in urban planning at the Public Works Studio organization, attributes the condition of some buildings to “the authorities letting the buildings deteriorate without any restoration or treatment... and in light of a legislative defect” represented by a public safety decree issued at the beginning of this century, and no mechanism is observed for how to restore buildings that were constructed before its issuance.

She explains that many buildings were built “without oversight,” pointing to “a structural defect related to the government system and how this issue was neglected through a legislative vacuum and through unfair housing policies.”

In the absence of official plans for periodic rehabilitation of old buildings, and in the absence of alternatives, residents choose to live in danger rather than be displaced.

Among them is Muhammad Al-Sayyid (56 years old), who refused to leave his home in the Al-Qubba area, despite stones falling from the second-floor balcony. He told Agence France-Presse with emotion that he repeatedly warned the municipality about the building's cracks, after four additional floors were built on top of the two main floors.

He added, "I have no shelter or alternative housing."

© 2026 AFP

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