The tragedy of northern Lebanon.. A child under the rubble amid mutual accusations

An old, cracked building collapsed, on Sunday evening, in the city of Tripoli, north of Lebanon, in the Al-Qubba region, which led to the death of the girl, Joumana Al-Deko, and the injury of her mother, Lina Kamon, in addition to two injuries.

The collapsed building consisted of 5 floors, and it had been cracked for a long time, which prompted its residents to evacuate it several months ago and some of them years ago, with the exception of the family of the citizen Khaled Al-Deko, who stayed in the building with his wife, daughter and son, where he was unable to move due to his poor economic conditions. And his inability to secure the rent of another house, according to what the people of the area confirmed to Sky News Arabia.

The ambulance and relief teams in the Tripoli municipality, in cooperation with the army, civil defense and the people, were able to rescue an elderly woman from under the rubble, who was immediately transferred to a hospital in the city.

Khaled, a resident of the area, said, “The building is known for its cracks and its poor condition. Six or seven days ago, it had an accident after a vehicle tasked with collecting waste in the city slipped and crashed into one of its columns.”

The witness added to “Sky News Arabia”: “Most of the residents of the street reported this, and they in turn reported that the building’s column was slipped, which led to its collapse on Sunday evening, 6 days after the accident.”

Medical sources at Tripoli Governmental Hospital reported to “Sky News Arabia” that “rescue teams in Dahr Al-Maghar, where the building collapsed in a city in Tripoli, managed to get Mrs. Lina Kamoud (37 years old) and her daughter Jumana (4 years), who soon She passed away after being taken to the hospital.”

Neighbors confirm that only two families live in the building.

Activists circulated on social media in Lebanon, on the night of Sunday, Monday, a video clip documenting the moment the girl, who collapsed from the rubble of the building, was pulled out, before her death from her injury.

There was heavy shooting in the Dome area, which witnessed the collapse of the building, in protest of the girl’s death, at a time when it was reported that a state of anger dominated the residents.

Throughout the night, rescue operations continued in Tripoli in search of missing persons under the building, while the security forces intensified their presence there to prevent citizens from approaching.
Municipal

The mayor of Tripoli, Riyad Yamaq, told Sky News Arabia: “We refuse to blame the Tripoli municipality for any consequences for the collapse of the Nashar building.”

He stressed that “the Tripoli municipality hastened to send its workshops and mechanisms with the emergency workshop personnel to help remove the rubble and stones, and to find out whether there are victims under the rubble or not.”

He said: “This building is like other buildings at risk of collapsing in the Old City, Al-Qubba, Al-Tabbaneh and other popular areas, for which the municipality has prepared detailed reports and sent them to the competent authorities, whether to the General Directorate of Antiquities in the Ministry of Culture or to the Higher Relief Authority and therefore to the side of the Council of Ministers or the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities, in addition to The municipal police issued warnings to the residents of the necessity of evacuating these monumental or old buildings that are in danger of collapse.”

He continued: “The people were rejecting the eviction process, and they also refused to restore their buildings because they were unable to do so, and we as a municipality do not have the financial capacity for restoration, and the laws prevent the municipality from carrying out restoration at its expense, but if the Ministry of Culture agrees, the restoration is an excellent debt to the municipality on the owner of the property, and most importantly. The Directorate of Antiquities in the Ministry of Culture rejects any request to restore archaeological buildings even if the necessary funds are available, and we have spoken about it dozens of times and we repeat it today, from here we refuse to blame the Tripoli municipality for any consequences for the collapse of this building, especially since we had restored several houses at our expense and expense. Good people and people are witness to that.”

Yamaq stated: “The municipality’s readiness to put its full capabilities to help remove the rubble, determine the damages, and conduct a transparent investigation to determine the responsibilities.”

real estate owners association

For its part, the Syndicate of Owners of Real Estate and Rented Buildings said in a statement issued after the incident: “We have fallen into the ban again due to the state’s disavowal of its responsibilities and leaving the old buildings to their fate, threatening the lives of those living in them, owners or tenants. Will the officials come this time to take pictures and cry for the lives of the victims? For years, they have refrained from carrying out their duties in response to the alarm and rapid action to prevent collapse.”

The statement added: “For years, we have been warning of the danger of collapses in old buildings and the loss of lives. For years, we have been saying that they have turned into time bombs, and no one has moved. For years, we have been calling for the empowerment of landlords by liberating old rents so that the owner can restore his property in order to No new disasters happen, and no one hears. The victims today in Tripoli are the responsibility of the state, and they were left to their fate in buildings that are in danger of collapse. We warn! This disaster is not the first and it will not be the last. They enabled the owners to restore the buildings. Give them the ability to restore.”

The Minister of Public Health, Firas Al-Abyad, asked those concerned in hospitals to receive the injured at the ministry’s expense.

It is noteworthy that the Al-Qubba area in Tripoli, in the north of the country, contains old buildings that need restoration and maintenance since the days of the war.