Collapsed building in Florida: research continues, condition of building in question

Published on : 06/26/2021 – 5:44 PM

Three days after the spectacular collapse of a residential building near Miami, in the United States, relief workers are continuing their relentless search in the rubble on Saturday, June 26.

At least four people have been killed in this disaster in Surfside, in the south-east of the country, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday and for the time being unexplained. One of them has been identified, US media reported on Friday. This is the mother of a 15-year-old boy rescued from the rubble on Thursday morning. Taken to hospital, she did not survive, according to the Miami Herald.

59 people were also missing, of whom nearly a third are foreigners. Nine Argentines, three Uruguayans and six Paraguayans, including the sister of the First Lady of Paraguay, are among the individuals still untraceable, and at least four Canadians, according to the authorities.

“We keep hope”

Tangles of beams and metal, piles of rubble, the smells of charred rubber and plastic, firefighters, dog units and cranes frantically search the ruins of Champlain Towers, a twelve-story building, whose facade overlooking the sea s’ collapsed.

“We remain hopeful. We are continuing the search. We are looking for people living in the rubble, it is our priority and our teams have not stopped”, assured the mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniella Levine Cava, during of a press conference. “Our experience shows us that for the first 72 hours there’s a good chance people could still be alive in there,” Miami-Dade County firefighter Danny Cardeso told CBS.

The rescuers, who hear noises emanating from the rubble, without being sure that they are of human origin, in particular created a tunnel under the flooded parking lot of the building to try to reach the potential survivors.

The operations are carried out in difficult conditions, a fire having to be brought under control on Friday on the site, and the firefighters asked the neighborhood to stay at home, windows and doors closed, to protect themselves from harmful fumes.

A memorial with candles, flowers and around 40 photos of the missing people has been erected near the site of the disaster.

“Major structural damage”

The need for explanations of the causes of this disaster, which affected around 55 apartments, is in fact becoming more and more urgent.

A report on the condition of the building had noted as early as 2018 “major structural damage”, as well as “cracks” in the basement of the building, according to documents released Friday evening by the city of Surfside.

“The waterproofing under the edges of the swimming pool and the access route for vehicles, (…) is beyond its service life and must therefore be completely removed and replaced”, wrote in this document l expert Frank Morabito.

“Cracks and scales of varying degrees were observed in the concrete columns, beams, and walls,” wrote Frank Morabito, without however noting any risk of collapse. “Although some of the damage is minor, most of the damage needs to be repaired in a timely manner.”

Attention was also focused on a study conducted in 2020 which showed that the building, built in 1981, had subsided by about 2 millimeters per year between 1993 and 1999.

In a joint statement with his university, however, the author of the study clarified that land subsidence alone would not cause a building to collapse.

Work to bring the building up to standard was also underway, especially on the roof, said several officials, nevertheless considering it unlikely that they were the cause of the collapse.

The investigation to determine the exact causes of this collapse will likely take months, experts warned.

With AFP