Al-Nour Square in Tripoli. (Credit: Michel Halak/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — One man died Tuesday when a wall collapsed on him in the al-Maloulah neighborhood of Tripoli, L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the North reported, adding that security forces attended the scene and have opened an investigation into the incident.
Last week, 16-year-old Maguy Mahmoud died a in her school in Jabal Mohsen, another Tripoli neighborhood, when the roof of her classroom caved in. Another student was injured in the incident. The school building dates back to the Ottoman era and is one of many dilapidated structures in the city.
In June, a building collapse in Tripoli killed a young girl and injured several others. The building was five stories high and in poor condition.
In the capital of North Lebanon, which is also the poorest city on the Mediterranean Sea, many buildings are reportedly at risk of collapse.
The chairwoman of the Lebanese Association of Properties, Andera Zouheiry, said in June that “4,000 buildings are at risk” of collapse in Tripoli.
She also noted that “many buildings are on the verge of falling down, either because they were built a long time ago and have not been maintained ever since, because their owners are absent, or due to the lack of any serious control by the government, which has encouraged the use of poor construction materials.”
Zouheiry said that as a result of the economic crisis, there is “higher risk of building collapse due to the high construction materials cost, while the poor salaries are not sufficient to carry out the needed restoration, strengthening and repair [work].”
Additional reporting by Souhayb Jawhar.