Building collapse prompts mass surveying call for Beirut

17/01/2012

Politicians in Lebanon are calling for urgent structural surveys of all the ageing buildings in the capital, Beirut, following the collapse of a seven-storey building on Sunday.

Members of Parliament are calling for structural engineers and specialist surveyors to undertake high-precision surveys of the buildings, to try to prevent any future incidents. The building collapsed in the Fassouh neighbourhood of the Ashrafieh district, killing 27 people and leaving many more still unaccounted for. The building dated back to the 1930s and was left as nothing more than a pile of rubble.

MP Sami Gemayel has urged the government to take action on the other ageing buildings in the capital. He said, “It is necessary that the Interior Ministry forms a committee to examine old buildings across Lebanon and take needed measures.”

Beirut MP Jean Ogassapian said that no more people should lose their lives in buildings simply due to what he called “technical defects”.

“We should draw a lesson from what happened yesterday,” Ogassapian told a local television station, calling for the department of Urban Planning and the Interior Ministry to step up. “It would be better if relevant authorities had taken pre-emptive measures to prevent the occurrence of this humanitarian earthquake.”