BEIRUT: Lebanese politicians called on the government Monday to survey all aging buildings across Lebanon, one day after 27 people were killed when a seven-story building collapsed in the Fassouh neighborhood of Ashrafieh. Efforts to recover bodies from under the rubble continued Monday night amid dwindling hopes of finding more survivors. In addition to Lebanese, citizens of Sudan, the Philippines, Egypt and other nations were killed when the building fell. Scores of people were also injured when the building, which dated to the 1930s, collapsed into a mound of rubble.

Metn MP Sami Gemayel urged the government to call for a “national mourning day” Tuesday and to provide decent housing for those who survived the collapse. “It is necessary that the Interior Ministry forms a committee to examine old buildings across Lebanon and take needed measures,” said the Kataeb (Phalange) party official.

Gemayel paid respects to the victims’ families and called for passing a rent draft law that would allow building owners to charge tenants enough rent to renovate their buildings.

He also called for passing a draft law to form a committee for managing crises which was proposed by his late brother, Pierre. “This will allow the Cabinet to deal with similar incidents in a professional manner,” he said.

Beirut MPs representing the district of Ashrafieh met in Parliament and said they would do their best to ensure that the Higher Relief Committee pay compensation as soon as possible to the families of victims and anyone in the area who was injured.

Ashrafieh MPs called on residents of the district to close their shops Wednesday between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. to mourn the victims.

Baalbek-Hermel MP Marwan Fares, from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, said that “only the poor die in Lebanon” due to the government’s negligence. “Instead of building houses for them, they are left in their old houses,” said Fares. “New buildings are mushrooming and they might be causing the fall of the buildings of the poor.”

Fares called for adopting a new policy under which houses are built for the poor. “Houses for the poor are built everywhere except for Lebanon where the real estate sector booms everyday and the houses of the poor collapse everyday as well.”

Fares held the government and the “greedy” real estate agents responsible for “this crime ... against the poor.”

For its part, the Lebanese Forces expressed in a statement its condolences and highlighted the necessity of forming “special rescue teams which receive special training and are provided with equipment and technology to enable them to carry out the rescue operation quickly and accurately.”

The statement called on the Cabinet to investigate the fall of the building and identify those responsible.

The LF urged ministries and municipalities to survey old buildings periodically throughout Lebanon to confirm that they are safe for residents.

The LF called on authorities to be strict in ensuring that public safety conditions are being met before granting a construction license.

Nabatieh MP Yassin Jaber said that the Cabinet should “draw lessons from what happened and to quickly determine who is responsible for this disaster by determining the causes that led to the collapse of the building.”

Jaber said that the government should prevent the reoccurrence of similar accidents by surveying old buildings, “those in Beirut in particular,” and to carry out the needed renovations.

Beirut MP Jean Ogassapian said it was unfortunate that people were killed when a building fell due to “a technical defect.”

“We should draw a lesson from what happened yesterday,” he told LBC TV. “It would be better if relevant authorities had taken pre-emptive measures to prevent the occurrence of this humanitarian earthquake,” said Ogassapian, from the Future bloc.

He urged Beirut’s municipality, the department of Urban Planning and the Interior Ministry, which grants construction licenses, to play an effective role in ensuring that public safety conditions are being met in new buildings.

Ogassapian called for immediate action to determine the number of buildings which are in the same state as the one that collapsed and to carry out the needed repairs.

Talal Arslan’s Lebanese Democratic Party expressed its condolences to the families of the victims as well. The party expressed its appreciation for the efforts made by the Internal Security Forces, the Civil Defense, the Red Cross and the people of Ashrafieh for their rescue efforts.