the town hall implicated after the collapse of the buildings

The balance sheet could become heavier, the public prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux having mentioned five to eight potentially buried victims. On the heap of tangled beams and stones, rescuers rummaged through and out, sometimes in heavy rain. A "Careful strategy" is in place, according to an officer of the Marseilles firefighters, who mixes "High-tech tools, endoscopic equipment", shovels and wicker baskets. Tuesday, mid-day, rescuers kept "A faint hope," evoking "Possible survival pockets located in the central part" rubble.

Trustee for decades of the building located at 65, rue d'Aubagne, the only one of the three that was occupied by tenants, Valerie Marcos, manager of Liautard, said at World that the "Building was in good condition and maintained. It was not a building of sleep merchants, it was never unhealthy, and the work has always been done by the eleven co-owners ". A year and a half after a first order of peril, a second had, on October 18, struck a first-floor apartment. All the occupants had been evacuated that day in a nacelle of fire-fighters. A wall of the entrance presented "A big crack", according to the tenant of 5^e floor. "We intervened, and three days later the recommended work was done," says Jean-François Valentin, building manager. "What happened to me is heartbreaking, but He added, I asked if we had to evacuate the occupants. Experts and city officials told me there was no problem. "

The causes of the collapse "are not established at this stage"

According to the cabinet Liautard, it is the state of the adjoining building, located at 63 and bought and walled by the city of Marseille, which would be at the origin of the disaster. "It was missing part of the roof at the back, and this building had no frame, says Mr. Valentin. The ground was clay and the water was dripping towards 65. " The investigation will have to check these elements.

At a press conference on Wednesday at the end of the day, the Marseille prosecutor, Xavier Tarabeux, said that the specific causes of the collapse "Are not established at this stage". "As it stands, it is premature to impute criminal responsibility", considering "The complexity of the situation", also added the prosecutor. "We do not know which of the two buildings caused the collapse"he continued, recalling that both buildings were from the end of the 18th century.^e century.

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In the center of Marseille, 13% of the habitat is unworthy

Rescuers now fear "A domino effect" dramatic Aubagne street, a sloping street of the very popular district of Noailles, "Where the buildings are leaning on each other, on the cob", as explained Tuesday morning a sailor-firefighter from Marseille.

Many buildings in the street were evacuated following the tragedy, and 105 people were relocated in about sixty hotel rooms in the city center. Some residents can still quickly recover some business, one by one, accompanied by firefighters.

"The weakest link is the town hall"

The controversy swells about the insalubrity of a large part of the private park of Marseilles, "Crazy numbers" denounced by the Abbé-Pierre Foundation. "In the fight against unworthy housing in Marseille, the weak link is the town hall, accuses MP (LRM) Alexandra Louis. No device works. " The same report of failure is made in the courthouse, where in 2011 the prosecutor's office set up an operational group to fight against unworthy housing (Golhi).

Provider of tools, such as shuttle cards for badociations, this device allowed the prosecutor to multiply the procedures on the unworthy habitat and the merchants of sleep. " The CAF, the security services were sensitized to alert us ", reports a magistrate. The device was even presented to future magistrates of the National School of Magistracy. "But, do we deplore at the courthouse, it was no longer fed by the services of the town hall, yet on the front line in the fight against unworthy housing. " After a promising start, the reports became scarce, up to one per month, and the Golhi ended up no longer meeting after February 2017.

A precise audit of the unworthy habitat in Marseille has been asked to the prefect, announced Tuesday, Christophe Castaner, Minister of the Interior. But for many, the diagnosis has been made for twenty years. "Ah, we would have been listening …", regrets Nordine Abouakil, former spokesman for A city center for all, an badociation that has followed all requalification operations in the degraded neighborhoods of the heart of Marseille, including Noailles, where the disaster occurred. " In ten years, I can testify that the municipality has not been harsh on sleep merchants and recalcitrant landlords. We can even talk of leniency. " After the launch of a property restoration perimeter in 1995, the Noailles district underwent two planned home improvement operations and a plan to eradicate unworthy housing. "We are still today with 48% of Noailles buildings in a state of great degradation", regrets Mr. Abouakil.