A week after the collapse of the building in Miami, hopes of finding survivors are “very low”

After a week of the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers building in Surfside in Miami, 18 dead and 145 missing, this is the toll so far reported by local authorities. Among the victims, 2 minors were identified, the sisters Lucia and Emma Guara, aged 4 and 10 respectively.

Since the building collapsed in Miami at 2:20 a.m. on Thursday, June 24, rescue efforts have not stopped at the site. Only one teenager was found alive in the rubble. Jonah Handler, 15, was rescued shortly after the structure collapsed.

Agencies in charge of emergency management They not only had to deal with the debris, uncertainty and pain of people still waiting for answers around the place, but the city’s unstable climate was also a variable to contend with.

From now on, prevention organizations are monitoring with particular attention the phenomena that could turn into storms and hurricanes in the coming days, and hit the city.

Nevertheless, The works are kept in the place where international experts have come to advise and assist in research.

“We have finished mapping all the bedrooms, living rooms and places we think people might be”said Elad Edri, the deputy commander of the Israeli rescue team who has been working with US first responders since Sunday.

“The current situation is undeniable: more than six days have passed since the collapse and the chances of finding people alive are slim”he added.

The list of the missing, maintained to this day at 145, includes 29 Latin Americans from Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay, Venezuela, Uruguay and Chile. Among the deceased are a Venezuelan and a Uruguayan-Venezuelan who have already been identified.

It is expected that this Thursday President of the United States and First Lady Joe and Jill Biden attend the scene of the drama thank the rescue teams and meet the affected families.

THE IDENTITIES

Rescue helped identify at least 16 of the deceased:

Stacie Dawn Fang (54 years old)

Antonio Lozano (83 years old)

Gladys Lozano (79 years)

Manuel LaFont (54 years old)

León Oliwkowicz (80 years)

Luis Bermudez (26 years old)

Ana Ortiz (46 years old)

Christina Beatriz Elvira (74 years old)

Marcus Guara (52 years old)

Frank Kleiman (55 years old)

Michael David Altman (50)

Hilda Noriega (92 years old)

Andreas Giannissopoulos (21 years old)

Anaely Rodriguez (42 years old)

Emma Guara (4 years old)

Lucia Guara (10 years)

THE REASONS FOR THE COLLAPSE

Over the days, attention also shifted to identifying the reasons for the collapse and determining responsibility for the event.. Different theories have emerged on the collapse of a tower of 55 apartments in the residential complex.

An analysis of The Washington Post in videos and images of the deadly collapse of a building on the outskirts of Miami – along with interviews with structural engineers, a key witness and an investigator – examine questions of whether existing damage to a deck in the pool area contributed to the disaster.

A resident said what minutes before he collapsed Champlain Tours South at Surfside, he noticed that part of the pool deck and a street-level parking area had collapsed. The husband of another resident said his wife, who had not been seen since the disaster, made a similar observation during a phone call shortly before the collapse.

An engineer found in 2018 ”significant structural damage“In the area of ​​the pool terrace caused by what he said was a fault limiting water evacuation.

It is The collapse investigation will likely take months and that no definitive cause is found. Experts called for caution and some structural engineers said they doubted a collapse of the bridge slab endangered the overall integrity of the beach-side building. But Allyn Kilsheimer, a seasoned engineer hired by Surfside to investigate the collapse, he told the newspaper The Washington Post that such a failure could have triggered a more serious disaster.

THE 2018 REPORT

In 2018, three years before the Champlain Towers condominium collapse in Miami, a consultant found alarming evidence of “significant structural damage” to the concrete slab under the pool deck and cracks and “abundant” collapses in the columns, the parking beams of the establishment. and walls, As reported The New York Times.

The engineer’s report prompted the plans for a multi-million dollar repair project are expected to begin shortly, but the building collapsed early Thursday morning, leaving four dead and more than 150 missing.

City officials released the 2018 report on Friday evening detailing the full nature of the damage to concrete and rebar, possibly caused by years of exposure to sea air Corrosive along the south coast of Florida.

The building had recently started a recertification process, a requirement for 40-year-old structures that have withstood Florida’s coastal hurricanes, storm surges and corrosive salt air It can penetrate concrete and rust interior rebar and steel beams.

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