Ibrahim Sidawi said he would not allow any officials to attend his son’s funeral. Abdel Hamid, 16, was killed in a building collapse in Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city, two weeks after residents warned local authorities about the risk of structural failure.
“Let them not dare attend. Politicians, whether new or old, are not welcome here. We only want the poor, people like me, who know how I feel,” Mr Sidawi said with tears in his eyes, during his son’s wake on Tuesday.
The boy was one of 14 people killed when two adjacent buildings crumbled into a cloud of dust on Sunday in the impoverished Bab Al Tabbaneh district.
At the funeral, the mood swung between sorrow over the death of a young boy, widely described by grieving relatives as kind-hearted, and anger at what they see as deadly negligence by the authorities.
The disaster adds to a list of buildings that have collapsed in Tripoli, the result of years of chronic neglect, unrepaired war damage and crumbling infrastructure. Only days earlier, at least two people were killed in the Qobbeh area, another low-income neighbourhood, when their building collapsed.
Tripoli, Lebanon’s northern capital, has long been marginalised. Despite being home to some of the world’s wealthiest people, including former prime minister Najib Mikati, who was listed in the 2025 Forbes Billionaire rankings, the city is often described as one of the poorest urban centres in the Mediterranean.
'Unacceptable' tragedy
There is nothing left of the building that swallowed Abdel Hamid in its vicious fall. Days later, firefighters were still pouring water on smouldering debris. The scale of devastation was close to that caused by powerful earthquakes, reducing what were once lively homes to piles of rubble and twisted metal.
But the scattered belongings, dusty teddy bears and torn High School Musical schoolbags are the result of Lebanon’s self-inflicted wounds – not ones born of natural catastrophe.
Locals told The National that the municipality, which is responsible for carrying out structural assessments, failed to inspect the buildings in time, despite recent warnings from residents.
Abdallah Ziade, a member of Tripoli’s municipal council, said the structures failed before the municipality was able to carry out a planned building inspection. “We didn’t have time. We can’t keep up,” he said, blaming the institution’s overstretched capacity and lack of resources.
For the family, this means the tragedy could have been avoided. “They knew, and they did nothing,” said Ghazi Sidawi, the boy’s uncle. “What happened to us today will happen to others tomorrow,” he added.
“We say to all officials in the country, endangering people’s lives is unacceptable. We hold all the country’s officials accountable,” said Sheikh Walid Tabous, a relative of Abdel Hamid.
Emergency meeting
President Joseph Aoun denounced the repeated “tragedies” in Tripoli, saying that “the responsible authorities were expected to take the necessary precautionary measures to prevent such collapses and the loss of innocent lives, including precious children.”
In the wake of the incident, which sparked protests and public anger, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s government decided on Monday to evacuate 114 at-risk buildings within a month and to cover the cost of temporary housing.
Authorities said emergency shelters were ready and that social assistance would be provided to affected families. The High Relief Commission, a Lebanese government body responsible for emergency response, will strengthen structures that can be saved, destroy those at imminent risk, and co-ordinate with engineering bodies to evaluate building safety and essential infrastructure.
Mr Ziade from the Tripoli municipality told The National the next immediate step is to provide alternative housing for residents who left unsafe buildings.
“We are identifying shelter centres for people who have left their homes and offering rental assistance to those who wish to rent elsewhere, with payments made quarterly,” he said.
Tripoli MP Ashraf Rifi said authorities were also planning long-term alternatives.
“The idea is that within three to four years, about 700 families living in buildings that are no longer fit for habitation will be relocated to a new residential area,” he told The National.
“This is meant to avoid living in a constant state of temporary fixes.”
Amnesty International welcomed on Monday what it described as “important steps towards addressing long-standing violations of socio-economic rights,” while stressing, however, that previous governments have consistently failed to “translate similar promises into tangible action”.
The tragedy was “avoidable”, the human rights group said, and must spark “genuine government action for prevention and reparations”.
But for residents, the trust has already been broken. The government’s response is too little, too late. “These meetings you see are nothing but media propaganda. It’s just mocking the people. They’re giving the people morphine injections,” Abdel Hamid's uncle said.
'Where are we supposed to go?'
Jihad Hamaoui, who lives in one of the buildings authorities say should be evacuated in the low-income neighbourhood of Qobbeh, said he also does not believe the government’s promises.
“They are living comfortably in their homes. Everything is fine for them. They don’t even look at us,” he said.
He said residents of his building were informed by phone that they had to evacuate, weeks after they had asked the municipality to inspect the structure. “On Monday, the cracks fully opened and [the walls] are at risk of splitting apart,” he said.
Evacuation was immediately ordered, but no alternative housing was offered.
“They’re just telling us to leave and forcibly kicking us out of our own building,” he added. Security personnel were stationed in front of the building after some residents refused to leave.
“We’re not clashing with anyone. We’re just asking: where are we supposed to go?” he said.
Mr Hamaoui and his friend, Fadi Ahmad, have been camping outside the premises. “They don’t care if the building collapses on us, as long as they don’t bear responsibility,” he said. They said dogs attacked them at night.
“God protect you from what may happen if people explode. We have reached the limit. If others reach the same limit too, no one should blame us,” he said.
The plight of people who have spent decades living on the margins, confined in “the poor neighbourhoods” is something “people living in Beirut or in wealthy areas will never feel,” he said
“They can pack a bag and travel. But we’re stuck. We’ve suffered from everything: potholes in the roads, no hospitals, no aid, no clean water or electricity. Nothing.”
“We are disaster-stricken people.”
