Surfside Search for Bodies Nears End

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

It was just shortly after midnight on the morning of June 24, 2021, when the world literally came crashing down on on residents and guests of a 12-story condominium complex in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida.    Residents had been informed as early as 2018 that problems had been discovered in the tower's construction, and the head of the resident's association sent out a letter just three months before the collapse warning that things were worsening.   Residents were being called on to come up with a $15 million assessment to cover the cost of structural repairs

There had been some ominous rumblings in the Champlain Towers for several days, and many residents were talking about the repairs that were needed and wondering about how those repairs would ultimately be financed, but no one seemed to be tuned into the very real possibility that the building could collapse.

But that evening a major portion of the forty-year-old structure did fall in.  The South Tower suffered what was termed a "pancake collapse" that completely took it to the ground in just seconds.  The North Tower suffered major damage but  most of it was left standing.   (The North Tower was intentionally demolished eleven days later.)

Rescues began immediately, with eleven injured people quickly pulled from the pile of rubble.  By the time daylight arrived professional rescuers were assembling at the sight and intensive efforts to dismantle and remove rubble while diligently searching for survivors were begun.

It took quite awhile just to arrive at a good guess as to how many people might be buried in the debris.  The first pronouncement was that 148 individuals were thought to be missing.  A few days later that number was dropped to 128, and now reports on 97 missing individuals have been confirmed.  That latest number also happens to match the number of bodies that have been pulled from the wreckage of the building, leading some to believe that the search for human remains is very close to an end.  And while the pile of building debris continues to dwindle, officials with the rescue effort say that they will continue the search for bodies until the sight is completely cleared of rubble from the collapse.

(As of this morning 95 or the 97 recovered bodies have been positively identified and their next of kin have been notified - and more that 26 million pounds of rubble have been removed from the sight.)

Many of the victims of the building collapse were reportedly visitors to the United States from Latin American countries.  One of the dead has been confirmed as the sister of Silvana Lopez Moreira, the First Lady of Paraguay.

One of the more amazing stories to emerge from this catastrophic event was the rescue of Binx, the cat.  Binx, who lived with his family of humans on the ninth floor of the South Tower was found buried alive in the rubble and essentially unharmed sixteen days after the building collapsed.  He has since been reunited with family members.

While the cause of the building collapse is in the early stages of investigation, there is speculation on two fronts.  Some are suggesting that there has been a long history of corruption in the issuing of construction permits and the conducting of governmental oversight in Florida's building industry, a situation that fostered building shortcuts and the use of inferior building materials and methods - and others are speculating that rising sea levels and changes in climate are also adversely affecting the stability and durability of buildings along the coast, and that salt water is eating away at the underground pilings on which the larger buildings rest.   Inspections of existing buildings are also a problem with two counties, including Miami-Dade where Surfside is located, having mandatory recertification inspections every forty years - without requiring the use of specialized equipment such as sonar and X-ray devices - and the rest of the state not requiring inspections on existing high rise buildings at all.

Clearly Florida's rush to build has outpaced concerns for public safety.

The time for recriminations and proposing remedies will soon be at hand, but for today workers are still faithfully digging through the rubble looking for the remains of those who once called the South Tower their home.  It's a sad affair, and it's nearly at an end.