the search ended with at least 97 dead

Nearly a month after the 12-story residential building collapsed in the Surfside area of ​​the Florida coast, authorities gave officially on the search for victims.

The tragedy, which occurred on June 24, left a balance until the moment of 97 deaths and at least one person considered missing has not yet been identified.

Firefighters left the site where the South Champlain Tower collapsed around noon in the area, local media reported.

“Providing closure to families was the ultimate test for everyone here and I think we did all we could to do that, ”Scott Dean, Chief of Task Force Florida 2, told local media.

Walls for an underground parking lot are still in place, around a hollowed-out foundation, the press said, adding that Miami-Dade County will provide materials to help shore up the remaining underground walls for security reasons.

Victims and families who suffered landslide losses will initially receive minimum compensation of $ 150 millionsaid a judge on Wednesday July 21.

Magistrate Michael Hanzman indicated at the hearing that the amount will come from the insurance outlay from Tours Champlain Sud and the foreseeable sale of the land where the condominium was built.

Further, he explained that the figure does not include what resulted from multiple class actions filed after the event in which at least 97 people died, 95 of whom were identified by local authorities.

If the victims and their relatives so wish, all these complaints can be combined into a single class action suit which covers all those concerned, added the judge in charge of the case.

What will they do in this area

Victims, relatives and owners of some of the more than 130 apartments that housed the condominium have expressed their views on what to do on the land valued at around $ 100 million.

While some want a new condominium to be built on the site that can be inhabited, others disagreed and, on the contrary, proposed that a memorial be built there.

Some have pointed out that the two options are compatible and that on the ground, on the waterfront, a new residential building can be erected which also includes a memorial in honor of the victims and those affected.

“A lot of people feel like they would like to get their homes back,” Oren Cytrynbaum said at the hearing.

This owner of an apartment at the Tours Champlain Sud pointed out that today for many it would be an “impossible mission” to come back and own a property like the one they had in the condominium, “given the prices of the houses, especially properties facing the sea. “.

The magistrate stressed that all options must be taken into account, but without allowing time to pass given that the victims need monetary compensation to rebuild their lives.

Among the victims of the event, besides Americans, there are Argentines, Cubans, Uruguayans, Colombians, Chileans, Venezuelans, Paraguayans and Israelis, among other nationalities.