JEDDAH, 12 January — Jeddah Municipality has served warning notices to the owners of 340 dilapidated buildings in the central and southern parts of the city, urging that they be evacuated immediately.
Informed sources have told Arab News that the warnings were issued after the buildings were inspected by municipality engineers and experts. The owners have been told either to carry out quick maintenance work on the buildings to make them safe, or demolish them.
Municipality officials have made 160 rounds over the past few weeks in a number of districts to make sure they comply with safety regulations. It has given the owners of the dilapidated buildings a month to have them vacated, or face fines.
The new action was taken after reports of cracks appearing on the walls of some old buildings in downtown Jeddah.
Civil Defense officers recently evacuated the residents of a two-story building in the city when its top floor collapsed. Col. Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, director of Civil Defense in Jeddah, told Arab News that his department had found a number of old buildings in the city that clearly pose a danger to those who reside in them.
