June 24, 2022 at 7:16 a.m. EDT
Record settlements for victims and their families have failed to close a year after the collapse of the Surfside, Florida condominium building. (Video: Luis Velarde / The Washington Post) Placeholder while loading article actions
SURFSIDE, Florida – The year since Champlain Towers South collapsed, the families of the 98 people who died are being denied two things they say will help them heal. The first is one reason: why did the 12-story building suddenly implode and crash to the ground in the hours before dawn on June 24? This answer is probably still years away.
The second is simpler: they wanted to be where it happened. Get up on the site that for months was a disaster area strewn with rubble and then, once the final remains were recovered and the piles of rubble dragged, a sandy beach flooded. Land surrounded by a chain link fence and put up for sale.
In the early hours of Friday, the parents, children and siblings of the murders had the opportunity to step on the empty lot of the beach. They met at the same place, and at the same hour a year before, when, shortly after 1 o’clock in the morning, the building began to collapse and rise, and in 10 minutes it collapsed. First Lady Jill Biden will speak at a public memorial service later in the morning.
“It’s a way of being in a place where we couldn’t afford to be for a year,” said Chana Ainsworth Wasserman, who lost her parents, Tzvi and Ingrid Ainsworth, in the collapse. “The idea behind it is to give a moment of silence and respect, and reflect on the brutality of how the people we love died there, how it happened in that place.”
On the first anniversary of one of the worst building failures in U.S. history, many families in the murders say they are still in a state of limbo. The remains of his loved ones have been identified, but not an explanation for his death. Florida has passed some condominium security reforms, but there are doubts about the effectiveness that can be implemented. A judge on Thursday gave final approval to a $ 1.2 billion settlement to families who lost loved ones, but offers no answers about what happened and blames no blame.
“It’s been a year, and the only thing I hear is,‘ It’s being investigated, ’” said Pablo Langesfeld, whose daughter Nicole and her newlywed husband, Luis Sadovnic, died in the disaster. “It’s a nightmare. It’s still a nightmare. “
Families helped plan events this weekend, much of which involves the site of the collapse. Surfside city officials enlightened 98 torches around the nearly two-acre site where the building once stood. A large eight-foot torch will remain lit at the site for nearly a month, marking the time it took rescue workers to find the final remains buried among the rubble.
Meanwhile, lawsuits have been filed against more than 25 entities, including the Champlain Towers South condominium association, as well as engineers and developers of a building next door. Settlement disbursements to families are expected to begin in the fall, but first is another painful process.
Relatives must fill out claim forms asking them to “describe how the loss of the deceased has affected the life of this survivor.” The document calls for them to notice “any mental distress, pain or suffering” suffered, as well as the loss of “attention, guidance, counsel, counsel, training, protection, society, comfort or companionship.”
“A lot of my clients haven’t been able to mourn, really, to focus on the loss, because a lot more has happened with demand and insurance,” said Edith Shiro, a clinical psychologist in Miami who is going through it. dealing with more than a dozen family members. “They are traumatized again with every meeting, audience or event. And now they have to fill out a form so that someone can value everyone’s life to decide how much they will receive.”
Survival survivors face a different set of challenges, such as finding a permanent place to live in an area where house prices have risen sharply in the past 12 months. The judge awarded them $ 96 million, with part of the proceeds from the sale of $ 120 million of the property to Dubai-based developer Damac.
Oren Cytrynbaum lived in Champlain Towers South, and his parents also had a unit in the building. None of them were there at the time of the sinking, which puts them in the “economic losses only” class of victims.
“You can never compare the two. You can’t compare the loss of lives with the property or the economic loss,” Cytrynbaum said. “But that does not mean that some people are completely devastated by the loss of their home and all their possessions. It doesn’t compare, but that doesn’t take away that harm. “
Above all there is the unanswered question of what happened and why.
“This is a horrible situation for families. I know they want to know why that building fell. “We all want to know,” said Charles Burkett, who was mayor of Surfside at the time of the collapse. .
After cataloging the rubble, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are preparing to conduct more invasive tests on the rubble in hopes of shedding light on the state of the concrete and reinforcing steel. the building at the time of the collapse.
“We haven’t ruled out anything at this time,” a NIST update this month stated.
The first theories were that the condo pool deck failed because it was poorly maintained. At first it looked like this part of the property was collapsing, followed by half of the building falling to the ground. The rest of the condo was unstable and torn down as a hurricane approached Surfside.
With a budget of $ 22 million, the NIST investigation is expected to last up to five years.
“There are huge implications for the safety of life of buildings in the United States and elsewhere in the world,” the NIST update states.
Despite the slow pace of complex research, Emily Guglielmo, former chair of the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations, said the failure of Champlain Towers South in time it will likely result in new building codes across the country.
“It has made us question everything,” Guglielmo said. “Do we have the right codes? Do we have the right construction? Is there a problem of climate change? Is there a problem with sea level? In general, from design to construction to how to maintain a building, there are conversations which take place directly as a result of Surfside that did not happen before “.
Florida lawmakers, after being criticized for not taking any action at the state’s regular legislative session, met in a special session last month and approved condominium security reforms. They include more frequent building inspections: Champlain Towers South was going through its 40-year inspection when it collapsed, and a requirement for condominium boards to collect and save money in reserve for maintenance. Some wonder if the state has enough structural engineers to make these new standards a reality.
A Miami-Dade County grand jury recommended dozens of changes to building inspection requirements, including reducing the 40-year deadline for recertification, though his suggestions were not binding. At the federal level, South Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) announced Thursday that she will introduce a bill next week to provide low-interest funding for condominium associations to pay for structural maintenance.
The debate and disagreements among members of the Champlain Towers South condominium board over the cost of necessary maintenance delayed preparations for repairs for three years. Concrete restoration work was to begin when half of the building collapsed.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said families receive updates every two weeks in an effort to be transparent and “do everything possible to show that we are with them, that we are working with them to find answers.” .
Rescue teams worked 24 hours a day, from June 24 to July 20, when the final remains were found. But only three people were rescued alive, including Jonah Handler and his mother, Stacie Fang. First responders pulled them out of the rubble after a man walking his dog nearby heard Handler’s calls for help.
Fang died at the hospital later that day. Handler, now 16, was seriously injured, but has recovered enough to start playing baseball again. He and his father, Neil Handler, have organized a gala charity Saturday night event to raise money for lifeguards, trauma victims, veterans, their families and communities. The Handlers called the charity The Phoenix Life Project, with the goal of “bringing serenity to calamity.”
Jonah Handler now lives with his father in Champlain Towers North, about two blocks from the site of the collapse. Neil Handler said his son wanted to do something permanent to honor his mother and thank the first ones who saved his life.
“I’m trying to teach Jonah that no matter how bad something is done, try to turn it into something positive,” Neil Handler said. “One of the things I’ve noticed is that some people are trapped in this morbid reflection of what happened, and it’s defining who they are. I said to Jonah, “You can’t let that define you.” It will either paralyze you or make you stronger. ”
He said charity is a way for your child to move forward, as are the darkest times, like candlelight on the spot.
“We are all linked to this catastrophe and we will all be cured in different ways,” he said. “It is important to celebrate those we have lost, and also to unite with a spirit of love and forgiveness.”