Europe 1 with AFP 16:21 p.m., March 21, 2023, modified at 16:21 p.m., March 21, 2023

On November 12, the collapse of two adjoining buildings in downtown Lille caused the death of a man. The socialist mayor of Lille Martine Aubry said Tuesday that 14 buildings in the city had been evacuated urgently since the collapse. 266 reports were made by tenants or landlords.

The socialist mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry, said Tuesday that 14 buildings in the city had been evacuated urgently since the collapse on November 12 of two adjoining buildings in the city center, which had caused the death of a man.

>> READ ALSO - Two days after the collapse of two buildings in Lille, concern spreads to local residents

266 reports

Since this double collapse in the rue Pierre Mauroy, a shopping street in the city center, 266 reports have been made by tenants or owners, worried in particular about the presence of cracks, listed Martine Aubry during a press conference.

Emergency safety orders or formal notices to do work were issued in 36 cases. Emergency evacuation was ordered in 14 of these cases, eight of which have been maintained to date. "Right after the buildings collapsed, we had a concern - I'm not talking about panic because I didn't feel it," the mayor said.

"People are more attentive"

"We find it good because it means that people are more attentive," she added, recalling that the upkeep and maintenance of buildings was the responsibility of the owners. The town hall seized the prosecutor for endangering the lives of others for three buildings of the rue de la Monnaie, in the Old Lille, "scandalized" of the state in which they were.

As part of the investigation into the November collapse, the forensic expert's report is expected in June. The mayor stressed that there were in any case "no poles and no clay" below these buildings. "There are houses on stilts in Lille, but not rue Pierre Mauroy," she insisted, pointing out that other large cities such as Bordeaux or Lyon were much more exposed than Lille to the problem of shrinkage-swelling of clays.

>> READ ALSO - Collapsed buildings in Lille: evacuation request for nine additional inhabitants

"An investigation opened for endangering the lives of others"

In the rue Pierre Mauroy, the first building, dating from the eighteenth century, had been evacuated the night before the collapse thanks to an alert given by students. A doctor who was in the second building was found dead in the rubble. An investigation was opened for "endangering the lives of others" and "manslaughter".