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Tragedy tumbles downward Twenty-seven victims perished after a seven-story building in the Fassouh district of Ashrafieh collapsed on the evening of January 15, while 12 more were injured, according to the Higher Relief Council. The combination of poor sandstone construction dating from the 1930s and stormy weather conditions contributed to the devastating crumble of the building, but some experts believe a more direct cause was damage to the building’s foundations due to negligent conditions at a nearby construction site. One vocal urban planner, Abir Saksouk, criticized a 2004 “new construction” law, which deregulates conditions for new construction even though such practices can damage the foundations of nearby buildings if not done properly. “The whole law was defined and fabricated in a way to benefit real estate developers,” she told Al Akhbar newspaper in a January 16 article. More than 15 families in the adjacent building were also forced to leave