ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – “A misfortune like the Sheikh Maqsoud disaster may happen again in our neighborhood – more severely and more dangerously,” Abdullah al-Sabagh, a resident of Salaheddine, a government-controlled neighborhood south of Aleppo, fears the building he lives in may also be at risk of collapsing. The incident in Sheikh Maqsoud has affected him deeply.
A few days ago, thousands of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh residents gathered to pay respect to the victims who lost their lives in a building collapse in Sheikh Maqsoud on January 22, killing 16 people underneath and injuring two others.
The neighborhood is mostly inhabited by Kurds who were displaced from Afrin after the Turkish invasion in 2018, as well as other IDPs.
Abdullah al-Sabagh, 36, who lives on the fourth floor in a building that houses 11 families in Salaheddine, added, “Most buildings are densely populated, and there are dozens of destroyed buildings and others that could crumble at any moment.”
Al-Sabagh’s concerns have grown as most buildings in his neighborhood are erected without supporting columns, “especially since most buildings around us were destroyed during the war.”
“It is not abnormal that a catastrophe similar to what happened in Sheikh Maqsoud could occur again, especially since this incident was preceded by many. The last inhabited building that suddenly collapsed was in al-Fardous neighborhood, in eastern Aleppo,” he added.
Most buildings in the Salaheddine neighborhood are not up to code. “They are built almost randomly and lack strong supporting columns,” he noted.
The buildings were built to make money, which means “the pillars lack the proper amount of reinforced concrete and the walls are built with 10cm low-quality bricks. I am not talking about one or two buildings, but hundreds in Salaheddine neighborhood,” he added.
Fears of Collapse
Diyab al-Awad, from al-Ansari al-Sharqi neighborhood, adjacent to Salaheddine, was frank about his concerns, saying, “They are like cardboard buildings.”
Al-Awad lives in fear that any building in his neighborhood could collapse at any moment.
He talked indignantly about construction contractors before and after the war saying, “they are extremely irresponsible and only care about making the highest profits at the expense of people.”
“A large part of our neighborhoods was turned into rubble when the war broke out and the remaining buildings, including single-floor houses are about to collapse, as most of them are cracked,” he told North Press.
Al-Awad stressed that the government should find alternative houses for people in damaged buildings, “but it seems no one cares. We are helpless. We can only pray for our safety.”
Urgent Solutions
Nureddin Qattash, 58, a civil engineer, pointed out that “eastern Aleppo, too, requires urgent solutions for most of its neighborhoods.”
“The issue of collapsing buildings will persist, especially since water and sewage networks are dilapidated and cause damage to the foundation of the buildings, which in turn contributes to the increased possibility of their collapse,” Qattash added.
In 2019, the Syrian government ordered the establishment of a committee consisting of the ministries of Local Administration, Public Works, Housing, and Water Resources with the goal of inspecting the condition of buildings in Aleppo’s southern neighborhoods, especially areas that witnessed heavy battles such as Salaheddine, al-Sukari, Jiser al-Haj, al-Salehin, al-Fardous neighborhoods and others.
“The committee’s mission was to provide alternative housing for each family living in dilapidated and at-risk buildings. However, the committee has not done anything except talking,” according to the engineer.
Several buildings in Salaheddine, al-Sukari, and Bustan al-Qaser neighborhoods have been evacuated without finding alternative housing for its inhabitants “who face extreme difficulty in finding a residence.”
“The majority of people struggle to find alternative housing in the destroyed city and therefore prefer to remain at their houses, despite the risks,” Qattash added.