Abandoned Tripoli school collapses

TRIPOLI — An abandoned school collapsed Friday afternoon along the road to Tripoli's citadel, in northern Lebanon's biggest city, L'Orient Today's correspondent in the North reports. There were no casualties from the incident, although some residents in neighboring areas panicked upon hearing the loud rumble of the building collapsing.

The collapse was reportedly expected to happen. In late 2023, a member of the Tripoli city council revealed that some 700 buildings in Tripoli were at risk of collapsing. The president of the National Commission of Real Estate, Indira al-Zouhairi, saw the number even higher, estimating in June 2022 that 4,000 buildings were threatened with collapse in the city.

Tripoli is the poorest city in the country and suffers from dilapidated infrastructure and lack of funding. Many buildings are also constructed without meeting building safety regulations.

On May 31 of this year, stone blocks from the balcony of an apartment on the fifth floor of a residential building in Tripoli, at the intersection of Qadicha and Nadim al-Jisr streets, collapsed, injuring one person lightly.

For reference

Tripoli buildings collapse: A timeline of destruction

A child was killed when a building in the Kobbeh neighborhood collapsed in June 2022 and in 2023, there were several partial building collapses, such as ceilings, and walls, which fell on residents. Collapses peaked in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck southern Turkey and caused a shockwave in Lebanon in February of the same year.

Additional reporting contributed by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the North, Michel Hallak.