The Lebanese Real Estate Authority has sounded the alarm regarding buildings at risk of collapsing due to the emerging climate change worldwide, calling for precautionary measures to protect old buildings. Andira Al-Zuhairi, the head of the Lebanese Real Estate Authority, stated in an interview with the newspaper "An-Nahar" that "there are human-caused factors, such as negligence, corruption, the absence of serious oversight and follow-up, along with municipalities' inability to fulfill their duties, and river floods due to blocked drains, random issuance of licenses, and buildings constructed in unsuitable locations," in addition to natural factors due to climate change.
According to Al-Zuhairi, "most buildings in Lebanon are no less than 85 years old, have witnessed several wars, and most have not been restored or reinforced adequately, all of which were built before 2005 and mostly lack public safety standards." She also pointed out that Lebanon is located on two seismic faults, not forgetting the impact of the explosion on August 4 on building safety; a survey conducted by the emergency room after the explosion, in cooperation with technicians, revealed that the number of affected units reached 85,744.
According to statistics, there are more than 16,000 buildings threatened with collapse across Lebanon, including 4,000 buildings in Tripoli alone to date, which encompass schools and state institutions. Beirut faces the highest percentage of at-risk buildings in densely populated residential areas, where official departments, such as the Court of Justice in Beirut, and schools are located. Therefore, the collapse of any building in this vicinity could lead to a disaster.
Experts scientifically view concrete in construction as serving for 50 years, losing 5% of its quality annually, according to Al-Zuhairi. She adds that after 2005, Lebanon began adopting public safety standards in construction within the framework of four decrees that relied mainly on earthquake resistance, with construction to be supervised by the Engineers Syndicate.
Al-Zuhairi emphasizes the necessity for the state to urgently address regulatory, legal, and administrative matters to ensure public safety, by conducting a new, serious, and final general survey, along with amending rental laws, due to free rent payments and the inability of building owners to reinforce their properties with rental revenues that have become worthless, in light of the state's failure to provide incentives to alleviate this burden.
