Feb 9 (Reuters) - The death toll from the collapse of residential buildings in the Lebanese city of Tripoli rose to 15 after search and rescue operations ended, Lebanon's National News Agency said on Monday citing the civil defence chief.
Civil defence director general Imad Khreiss said rescue teams rescued eight people from the rubble of the collapsed buildings in the northern city's Bab al-Tabbaneh neighbourhood.
Officials said on Sunday that two adjoining buildings had collapsed.
Abdel Hamid Karimeh, head of Tripoli's municipal council, said he could not confirm how many people remained missing. Earlier, the head of Lebanon's civil defence rescue service said the two buildings were home to 22 residents.
A number of aging residential buildings have collapsed in Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city, in recent weeks, highlighting deteriorating infrastructure and years of neglect, state media reported, citing municipal officials.
Karimeh said the issue of unsafe buildings in Tripoli was longstanding and driven by multiple factors, including construction violations, years of disorder, weak oversight and a lack of regular maintenance, partly linked to restrictive rent control laws that discourage owners from investing in repairs.
He said many buildings in the city were between 60 and 70 years old and had exceeded their structural lifespan without undergoing essential maintenance, increasing the risk of collapse. The problem, he added, exceeded the capacity of the municipality and residents alone, calling for direct state intervention.
Authorities have begun providing temporary shelter to displaced families, while Lebanon's Higher Relief Committee is offering housing allowances for up to three months, Karimeh said.
He added that charities, the Ministry of Social Affairs and international organisations were coordinating to provide assistance, saying the aim was to secure a minimum acceptable level of support for affected households.
(Reporting by Jana Choukeir; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David Holmes)
