While there are frequent confirmations that the two buildings that collapsed on Tuesday-Wednesday night were built nearly 20 years ago, after their owners benefited from plots of land as part of the 2006 resettlement operation ('Fez without slums'), this was done"in accordance with the legal standards and licenses granted at the time by the competent authorities," as confirmed by Ismail Jay Mansouri, head of the Zouagha district council in Fez, in a statement to Hespress.

In the same context, Hespress electronic newspaper obtained data from an official source in the Association of Architects in the Fez-Meknes region, who confirmed that “the owners of the houses concerned with the collapse may have deliberately increased the construction on their own above the two floors that are originally allowed; while it is known that the excess load puts pressure on the foundations of the building, and leads to the risk of collapse,” regretting that there were victims among the dead and injured.

A source from Hespress, who preferred not to be named, said, “Citizens must realize that illegal construction, including making additions or repairs not permitted in the original design, is a direct threat to their lives; building without approved engineering standards and without respecting the load of the foundations inevitably leads to disaster.”

The official in the regional body of architects explained the nature of “technical and administrative responsibility in building collapse incidents,” stressing that “the problem often goes beyond the scope of the architect and civil engineer after the initial license has been obtained.”

The same engineer confirmed that “the original engineering plans for buildings are, in most cases, legal and licensed according to the applicable standards (such as “ground floor and two floors” i.e. R+2), adding that “the role of the architect and civil engineer is limited to setting the design and implementing the technical standards (…) and if the building is licensed in the first place, then the engineering foundations can bear the planned weight.”

The spokesperson added, explaining: “The core of the problem lies in the period after licensing, as the collapse of buildings is often due to the addition of unauthorized floors (in the case mentioned in Fez, two floors were added above the original permit for R+2). This addition is a blatant violation of the approved plan, and results in a huge increase in the load that exceeds the carrying capacity of the foundations and columns originally designed for a much lower load; this leads to an imbalance in the building system as a whole, making it prone to collapse.”

“Activating accountability”

Ali Laksab, a civil society activist and member of the Fez City Council, stated that “activating professional accountability requires strict application of the laws regulating construction and engineering,” supporting the local authorities’ move to “open independent technical investigations that determine the responsibilities of all stakeholders, from engineers and contractors to design and monitoring offices.” He added: “Disciplinary and professional penalties should be activated, including withdrawing accreditation and prohibiting the practice of the profession when manipulation or overlooking fraud is proven, because protecting the lives of citizens begins with respecting safety rules and quality of work.”

“Elected officials and territorial authorities have a direct political and administrative responsibility to monitor construction sites and respond to repeated warnings about houses that are about to collapse,” Laqsab told Hespress. “This requires strengthening field monitoring mechanisms, activating control and deterrence procedures without leniency, and adopting a transparent management that links responsibility with accountability.”

The spokesperson believes that “the priority now is to subject all buildings constructed haphazardly or outside of regulations to a mandatory technical assessment that determines the level of risk, and to launch urgent measures that include structural reinforcement, limiting illegal additions of floors, and removing parts that are dangerous to the lives of residents, while preventing any exploitation of buildings that pose a direct threat to their safety.” He added: “All these measures must be linked to the strict enforcement of the law to stop the urban bleeding resulting from illegal construction.”

The civil society activist and elected official in the scientific capital of the Kingdom continued: “It is time to develop an urgent and comprehensive action plan based on: a complete and accurate inventory of buildings threatened with collapse, urgent resettlement of families at risk through transitional solutions that preserve their dignity, and then launching restoration and rehabilitation programs according to strict engineering standards, while strengthening prior and subsequent monitoring of all construction operations,” calling for “the rehabilitation of the urban space with a preventive approach that does not merely manage crises.”

"Time bombs"

Ahmed Mazhar, head of the “Rural Governance Network” and a member of the Coalition of Civil Society Initiatives, pointed out that “the debate that is renewed after every tragedy quickly fades away without producing a radical solution,” noting that “what is required today is to move from subsequent reactions to urgent precautionary and preventive measures.”

According to Mazhar, who spoke to Hespress, the necessary measures consist of “a comprehensive review and immediate correction,” as “an urgent national campaign must be launched to inventory and correct the situation of all existing buildings that are threatened with collapse, especially in well-known neighborhoods such as ‘Hay Hassani’ in Fez, which witnessed a similar tragedy in the middle of last year; this correction requires immediate intervention to assess and address the existing dangers.”

The necessary procedures also include “strict adherence to engineering and legal standards. To ensure the safety of any future building, strict technical and administrative control must be activated during all stages of construction, ensuring full compliance with all architectural standards contained in the licensed plans,” according to the civil society activist, who considered “the intervention of the Public Prosecution a necessary step, but it must be followed by strong accountability measures that include all those involved who failed in their duty or overlooked violations; this link between responsibility and accountability is the only guarantee to prevent the recurrence of laxity and leniency with violators.”

The head of the “Rural Governance Network” stressed that “Morocco is required today to establish permanent mechanisms that protect lives and property, and put an end to this ongoing hemorrhage that claims innocent victims due to violations of the law and engineering standards.”

The spokesperson warned that a number of “buildings in other neighborhoods (such as Al-Hassani, Labita, and Benzakour in Fez, and the center of the Moulay Yacoub region, which have become known for containing a large number of buildings that are about to collapse) require urgent intervention because they are ticking time bombs,” and concluded that “the lack of effective intervention by local and technical authorities to stop these blatant violations raises a major question mark about the extent to which the principle of linking responsibility with accountability is activated in the administrative oversight system.”