Rescue workers continued searching on Monday (February 9) for people under the rubble in Lebanon’s Tripoli, after a building collapsed in the previous day.

When search and rescue operations ended, Lebanon's National News Agency said the death toll to 15, 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 ageing 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.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: TRIPOLI, LEBANON (FEBRUARY 9, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. RUBBLE, RESCUE WORKERS AND HEAVY MACHINERY AT THE SITE OF A BUILDING COLLAPSE THAT KILLED 15

2. VARIOUS OF RESCUE WORKERS AT SITE

3. VARIOUS OF RESCUE WORKERS CARRYING COVERED BODY ON STRETCHER

4. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TRIPOLI RESIDENT AND OWNER OF A SHOP IN THE BUILDING THAT COLLAPSED, MOHAMMED MAHMOUD OMAR, SAYING:

"I closed (the shop) yesterday at 1pm and went home. I slept, and I woke up being told: ‘Your building collapsed, your shop has been levelled to the ground.’ We didn't get any warning, no inspection came, nothing came at all. We didn't see anything except that suddenly the building came down. How it came down, nobody knows, and there aren't any cracks. My shop, if there had been cracking in my shop, I would have … but there's no cracking, nothing. How did the building collapse? I don't know."

5. VARIOUS OF HEAVY MACHINERY REMOVING RUBBLE / SMOKE RISING

6. PEOPLE ON BALCONY, LOOKING ON

7. VARIOUS OF SITE OF COLLAPSED BUILDING, RESCUE WORKERS AND HEAVY MACHINERY / SMOKE RISING

8. RESCUE WORKER SPRAYING WATER

9. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF TRIPOLI'S MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, ABDEL HAMID KARIMEH, SAYING:

"Of course, this tragedy, and this issue (of unsafe buildings) is a longstanding issue in Tripoli, (driven by) multiple factors, including the chaos that existed, (construction) violations, weak oversight because there is a lack of maintenance, due to the unfair old rent law. All of this led to having many buildings in Tripoli between 60 and 70 years old that exceeded their (structural) lifespan without undergoing essential maintenance, causing the disaster that we are witnessing. Unfortunately, this problem exceeds the capacity of the municipality and residents. That’s why we called for the state's intervention, so we can start either by reinforcing the buildings, or maybe demolishing these buildings and rebuilding in their place.”

10. RESCUE WORKER SPRAYING WATER, LEBANESE SOLDIERS STANDING GUARD AT SITE

11. VARIOUS OF LEBANESE SOLDIERS STANDING GUARD ON RUBBLE

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TRIPOLI RESIDENT, NABIL MDALLALI, SAYING:

"Isn't it a shame that these fourteen, fifteen people died now? No one ran after them, no one asked who they were. Now look, they're gathering them up and taking them to the hospital, not knowing who would be running after their son, or running after their wife, or the one whose family is gone."

13. VARIOUS OF DAMAGED BUILDINGS

14. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF TRIPOLI'S MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, ABDEL HAMID KARIMEH, SAYING:

“The municipality carried out the survey that it has. The survey that it has, says there are 105 buildings classified as at risk of collapsing, and 600 buildings that need immediate intervention. Unfortunately, this building wasn't included in the existing survey, because we hadn't received any complaints and there were no visible signs on this building.”

15. VARIOUS OF AGEING BUILDINGS

16. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF TRIPOLI'S MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, ABDEL HAMID KARIMEH, SAYING:

“In the first phase, we're providing them with temporary shelter. In the second phase, the Higher Relief Committee is offering housing allowances for up to three months. Of course, all the organizations are present and the Ministry of Social Affairs is also bringing them into a safety-net program. International organizations are also here helping us. So, thank God, we can say we're securing a minimum acceptable level of support for any family that has to leave (evacuate) its home.”

17. AGEING BUILDING

18. VARIOUS OF TRIPOLI'S SKYLINE