Khan al-Tamthili in Tripoli's Mina district is home to dozens of families and faced damage during the Feb. 6, 2023 earthquake. Feb. 9, 2023. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today/File photo)
BEIRUT — A report by Amnesty International published on Tuesday found that thousands of people are living in "unsafe buildings" a year after several earthquakes — nearly level 8 magnitude — destroyed large parts of southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, and damaged some buildings in Lebanon.
The report comes the morning after a building collapsed in Choueifat, the second in 10 days, killing at least four people, including a baby, and wounding four others.
In its report, the international human rights group focuses on Tripoli, the poorest city in Lebanon. It accused the Lebanese government of "failing people living in buildings at risk of collapse" because it did not properly survey buildings after the earthquake on Feb. 6, 2023. The 7.8-magnitude quake reverberated out from an area near Gaziantep, Turkey, killing nearly 60,000 people in Turkey and Syria. The tremors were felt throughout the region, shaking the ground in Tripoli, where residents told L’Orient Today they were jolted awake in the middle of the night to their floors swaying beneath them.
'Decades of neglect'
Amnesty International found that even before the earthquakes in February 2023, residents in Tripoli had raised concerns about poor living conditions, which they say are caused by "decades of neglect and contractors’ lack of compliance with safety regulations." Additionally, they suggest that the issue has been made worse by the country's grave economic crisis, which started in 2019, which the group says has made it difficult for people to afford repairs or find different accommodation.
The organization added that the earthquakes have caused further stress on pre-existing structural issues, putting more residents at risk. Amnesty claims the Lebanese government has "failed to complete comprehensive surveys of buildings at risk, or help residents."
“The Lebanese government has drastically failed in its responsibility to establish a clear plan to repair damaged buildings and ensure that residents are offered support, including compensation and alternative housing where applicable,” said Amnesty International’s Lebanon researcher, Sahar Mandour.
“The right to adequate housing is a human right. It is shameful that residents in the city with the highest poverty rate in Lebanon have been left to fend for themselves and in some cases were handed eviction notices," it added.
The Lebanese Association of Properties (LPA) told L'Orient Today in October that 16,000-18,000 buildings were at risk of collapse in Lebanon, stressed by climate change, improper drainage and other factors.
Camille Hashem, a representative from the Order of Engineers and Architects (OEA), added that there are “at least” 4,000 buildings at risk of collapse in Tripoli alone — though that number is from a 2017 study. Today, he says, the real number of at-risk buildings is likely higher.
“Every year the buildings get older and older, so every year the number will increase by hundreds,” Hashem says.