In Tripoli, People Live in Collapsing Buildings as Government Neglect Lingers
The 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, whose tremors were strongly felt in Lebanon, further weakened Tripoli's buildings, but people continued to live in them despite evacuation orders
In just a matter of seconds, dozens of lives can be lost. But the damage that causes these deaths has been in the making for years, even decades. The tragedy keeps unfolding in Tripoli. This northern Lebanese city, the country’s second-largest after Beirut, is the most neglected by state institutions. Over the years, its inhabitants have denounced the worsening living conditions they are forced to endure. But now many of them are not able to even cry for help, because they are buried under the rubble of their homes.
This winter, at least six buildings have collapsed in Tripoli. Each of them took away their tenants’ lives and homes. At least 14 people, including children, were killed last Sunday when two adjacent buildings crumbled into a cloud of dust. Eight people, a child included, were pulled out alive from the rubble. Two weeks before, residents warned local authorities about the risk of structural failure.
Many point out that this is the result of years of chronic neglect, unrepaired war damage, and crumbling infrastructure. Just a few days earlier, another two people died in a low-income neighborhood of the city Qobbh when the building they lived in collapsed. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced that the government is fully prepared to provide temporary housing for residents of evacuated buildings and to allocate the necessary funds to urgently reinforce unsafe building structures.
This measure aligns with decisions made at a cabinet meeting two weeks earlier.
“Given the magnitude of this humanitarian disaster, which is the result of years of accumulated neglect, and out of respect for the lives of the victims, I urge all those involved in politics, in Tripoli or elsewhere, to refrain from attempting to exploit this horrific disaster for cheap and immediate political gains,” Salam said. Identifying at-risk buildings and assessing their danger levels remains the responsibility of local authorities, he added.
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The authorities cannot respond to our problems because they are fundamentally at odds with their interests and structures
“The authorities cannot respond to our problems because they are fundamentally at odds with their interests and structures,” Marie Istambouli, a local activist from Tripoli, told The Media Line, referring to the corruption that plagues the Lebanese political class. The northern capital of Lebanon is home to some of the world’s wealthiest people, like billionaire and former prime minister Najib Mikati, but, at the same time, it is one of the poorest cities on the Mediterranean coast. There are several reasons for this, but the national government’s historical marginalization has perpetuated it.
People became really poor because nothing changed after the [civil] war
Karim Safadi works closely with the many underprivileged residents of Tripoli. “Tripoli has a high unemployment rate, with a big non-Lebanese community with Syrians and Palestinians,” he told The Media Line. “It is also really far behind when it comes to economic development from the government because it didn’t get any help in reconstruction after the civil war, like Beirut,” he added, referring to the Lebanese conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. “People became really poor because nothing changed after the war.”
Many of the buildings that are collapsing today were damaged during that time. About 105 buildings that are still inhabited are at immediate risk of collapse and need to be evacuated, according to the most recent municipal survey, conducted in 2024.
In context The head of the Lebanese League of Buildings, Andira Zouhairi, told Lebanese newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour that the real number of endangered buildings in the city is 4,000.
The majority of Tripoli’s buildings are in very poor condition, as if they are about to fall apart or are literally hanging by a thread. Some buildings are even stacked on top of each other. The 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, whose tremors were strongly felt in the Land of the Cedars, further weakened the Tripolitan buildings. But that doesn’t stop people from living in them, despite the evacuation orders.
Tripoli has the highest poverty rate in the country. After losing their homes, some families received $1,000 each from the Higher Relief Committee. In Lebanon, where inflation remains high and prices continue to rise, this amount is worth nothing after a couple of months. The need for urban planning is clear.
“We call upon all relevant authorities and ministries to consider the issue of restoring and reinforcing unsafe buildings in Tripoli as a national issue par excellence,” said Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri after sending its condolences to the families of the victims of Sunday’s collapse.
It is no longer permissible to delay addressing … reinforcement, restoration, secure housing, and compensation for affected families
“It is no longer permissible to delay addressing it under any circumstances whatsoever, in terms of reinforcement, restoration, secure housing, and compensation for affected families as quickly as possible,” Berri added. After Sunday’s tragedy, many residents took to the streets, organizing sit-ins outside the homes of Tripoli’s political leaders.
“Once again, Tripoli has sparked an explosion of social anger over the conditions of the country and its people,” Istambouli said, adding: “The poor without any privileges are always more willing to occupy the squares in the face of the regime’s most powerful machines of brutality, oppression, and criminality.”
