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The French authorities pledged on Tuesday to inspect all Marseille buildings "unfit for habitation", the anger of the inhabitants having collapsed following the collapse of two buildings in the Mediterranean city, where we feared up to eight dead.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told lawmakers in Paris that he had ordered a "building-to-building" audit before an "ambitious program to ensure security" alongside authorities in Marseilles.
"Nearly 6,000 properties have been identified as being in danger" in the city, he said, representing some 44,000 homes in poor neighborhoods, calling the situation "unacceptable".
The bodies of two men and one woman have already been removed from the 15-meter rubble pile of Aubagne Street, a narrow shopping street that now looks like the scene of an earthquake. .
Rescuers delicately searched for what was left of dilapidated buildings that collapsed Monday morning in Noailles, a popular neighborhood in the heart of the port city.
Prosecutors say they believe eight people were inside at the time.
A third adjoining building s' partially collapsed Monday night.
Residents said Tuesday that structural risks related to buildings and other similar buildings were widely known, but that city officials had only reacted poorly when they were alerted.
"Everyone was aware of the problems associated with the collapse of two buildings," said Patrick Lacoste, spokesman for a local housing action group.
"People died for nothing, even though we knew."
"It's hell here, they know it's crap and now people are dying for nothing," said Toufik Ben Rhouma, a local resident. The disaster, he added, was "100% the fault of the mayor".
– & # 39; It could have been me & # 39; –
Only one of the buildings was occupied, the other two being in such a bad state that they had been condemned.
Google Maps images taken in recent months have shown that the facades of collapsed buildings have large visible cracks.
People lived in nine of the ten apartments at number 65, while a store occupied the ground floor.
A young bar boy watched the scene with tears in his eyes, eager to hear from an Italian who lived in the building.
"It was a great girl, she was coming to study at the bar," he says without giving his name.
Abdou Ali, 34, came looking for his mother after she did not come looking for her youngest son to school on Monday afternoon.
"I have not heard anything," he said, wandering among the rescuers.
Sophie Dorbeaux also told AFP that she had left the block Sunday night to stay with her parents because her door, like many others, did not open or close properly because structural problems of the building.
"The walls have been moving for several weeks and cracks have appeared," said the 25-year-old philosophy student.
"It could have been me," she added, visibly shaken.
Authorities in the city of Marseille, who evacuated and relocated a hundred residents of neighboring buildings as a precaution, believe that heavy rains may have contributed to the collapse of buildings.
But this incident, rare in a large western city, has already provoked a political dispute over the quality of housing available to the poorest inhabitants of Marseille.
The neighborhood is home to many buildings in a similar state, some of which are run by slum owners.
"These are the homes of the poor who are collapsing, and this is not a coincidence," said local legislator Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the left-wing France Unbowed party.
The Marseille authorities launched a major plan to modernize the city center in 2011.
A 2015 government report indicates, however, that nearly 100,000 inhabitants of Marseilles lived in dwellings dangerous to their health or safety.
Rescuers worked all night looking for victims in the rubble of the two buildings
The neighborhood is home to many buildings in a similar state
People lived in nine of the 10 apartments at number 65, while a store occupied the ground floor
