Florida officials have yet to assist a search and rescue team in efforts to locate survivors after an oceanfront apartment building collapsed near Miami Beach, Israel’s Cannes and Channel 13 news reported Friday. Has not responded to an Israeli offer to send.
But it was unlikely the US would accept Israel’s offer to send search and rescue teams to the IDF, which in recent years have assisted in major disasters around the world, including in Mexico and Brazil.
“We don’t have a resource problem, we have a luck problem,” said Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett on efforts to find survivors under the rubble.
Four people were confirmed dead and 159 unaccounted for after it collapsed on Friday after rescue teams scoured a mountain of rubble in search of survivors.
As shock among the local community at Surfside, the state’s governor called for full shedding without delay on the causes of the freak disaster – which reduced one wing of the 12-story tower to a massive pile of rubble.
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Daniela Levin Cava, the first Jewish mayor of Miami-Dade County, said officials were still not aware of the 159 people who were sleeping in Champlain Tower South at the time of the collapse, raising fears that the death toll could be much higher.
Maria Fernanda Martinez, left, and Mariana Corderio, of Boca Raton, Florida, stand outside a 12-story beachfront condo building that partially collapsed Friday, June 25, 2021 in the Surfside area of Miami (AP photo/Lynn Sladkey)
“We will continue the search and rescue because we still have hope that we will find people alive,” she told a news conference – describing the dedication of dozens of rescuers at the site.
“They are totally, totally motivated to find people. They have to be taken off the shift.”
Rescuers with sniffer dogs worked through the night and into the next day – the recovered bodies were carried away in yellow bags as homicide detectives worked to confirm the identities of the victims.
But some people started expressing their disappointment in the face of a very slow search operation.
“Not enough is being done,” said Mike Salberg, who came from New York after the accident. Five members of his family including his parents are unaccounted for.
“I want answers,” he told AFP. “Families are sidelined. We are being told that they have the best crew but they don’t have the capability and capability… 40 hours later, four are dead.”
He said he hoped the rescue team being offered by Israel would be able to participate in the search.
Jewish community prays
Israel’s Consul General Maura Elbaz-Starinsky told The Times of Israel on Friday that 35 of the 159 people who were not traced were Jewish. While many had “Israel connections”, he said it was not yet clear whether any of the victims were Israeli citizens.
The consul general said “the community here – not just Jews and Israelis” [communities] – Has shown excellent solidarity. Everyone brought food, blankets and equipment together. He also built a kosher kitchen. “
He said the condo building includes owners who only live there for holidays or parts of the year, so it was unclear how many may still be under the rubble and how many people were out of town when the building collapsed.
(LR) Israeli Consul General in Miami Elbaz-Starinsky, Tallahassee Chabad Rabbi Schner Orechman and Florida Senator Rick Scott at the scene of the collapse of a condo building on June 25, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. (Israel Consulate in Miami)
Elbaz-Starinsky said Israel is providing food, clothing, medicine and other aid as rescue teams dig through the rubble of the collapsed condo building for dozens of Jewish families.
Later, speaking to Channel 12, Elbaz-Starinsky acknowledged that Israel’s aid at this stage was “largely symbolic”, but that Israel “wanted to help in any way it could.”
The missing include several members of an Orthodox synagogue.
Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar, founder of the Shoal of Bal Harbour, said his community was praying for a miracle as rescue teams searched for survivors amid the rubble on Friday.
“It certainly needs a miracle … because the circumstances are very, very serious,” said Lipsker, who is the Chabad-Lubavitch envoy for the region.
Lipsker could not say exactly how many members of his congregation were missing. But he said many members of Surfside’s Jewish community were unaccounted for.
“It’s a very large group of people, unfortunately,” he said. “From the synagogue, everyone knows someone or the other. It’s like a big community, so [there were] A lot of people who lived in that building.”
Governor Ron DeSantis visited Shull on Friday afternoon. Journalists were not allowed inside and the governor entered and exited through an underground garage.
Shool is located about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) to the north of the building that collapsed.
Jewish faithful pray at Bal Harbor’s Shell after community members were reported missing in the partial collapse of a 12-story beachfront condo in the Surfside area of Miami on June 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
President, Governor Speaks
President Joe Biden – who has ordered federal aid for the relief effort – sent a message of support to the families, calling it a “tough, difficult time.”
“A lot of people are waiting. Are they alive? what will happen? That’s why our heart goes out to him,” he said at the White House.
Biden spoke with Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday, who said the family “deserved a definitive explanation for how this could happen.”
DeSantis said that “it’s important to do this right, but also to do it in a timely manner — so that we can get answers to families and we can get answers to the people of Florida.”
The surfside building was occupied by a mix of full-time and seasonal residents and renters, and officials insisted it was unclear how many people were actually inside at the time of the collapse, which spanned some 55 apartments.
Relatives of missing people are gathering at a local community center, while occupants lucky enough to find themselves suddenly contemplate homelessness at the time of the disaster.
Ariana Hevia of New Orleans, La., Center, stands with Sean Wilt, at left, near the 12-story beachfront condo building that partially collapsed Friday, June 25, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami. Hevea’s mother Cassandra Staten lives in the building (AP Photo/Lynn Sladki)
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Ray Jadallah said search teams were being guided by sound.
“It’s not particular, you know, human sounds – it could be, you know, tapping, it could be steel, you know, like twisting, it could rain like some rubble, ‘ he explained to reporters.
“We have hope. And every time we hear a sound, we focus on that area.”
question on construction
Although the causes of the collapse are unclear, the condition of the 40-year-old waterfront building is sure to face scrutiny.
Completed in 1981, Champlain Towers was to be recertified this year to Miami-Dade County safety regulations, and construction was underway on its roof as part of that process.
According to a study led by Florida International University environmental professor Simeon Wadowinsky, based on space-based radar data, the site showed signs of land degradation in the mid-1990s.
“I don’t know if the collapse could have been predicted. But we did find out that the building was moved in the 1990s,” Vodovinsky told CNN on Friday, describing what was called a “slow process” of settling rather than sinking was happening in
Rescue workers working in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo are seen at Surfside on Friday, June 25, 2021. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
One of the university’s experts, Etorod Azizinamini, chair of its civil and environmental engineering department, said in an online video that it was too early to speculate on a cause.
He said structural engineers would collect vast amounts of data on design plans and construction methods, take samples of steel and concrete, look for signs of corrosion, examine foundations and try to detect any unusual phenomena before collapse.
“Once we have all the information we can simulate completely different scenarios, and we can work out how the collapse happened,” Azizinamini said. “Unfortunately it’s not going to happen in a few days, weeks.”
“It’s going to take some time.”
israel prays
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said on Friday he was praying for the victims.
“Our prayers are with the families who eagerly await the news of their loved ones in Miami. We look forward to the recovery of the survivors and extend our heartfelt condolences to those who lost family members.” It is,” Rivlin said.
Earlier Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he was following with concern the “hard images” from Florida.
“Our Foreign Ministry representatives in Miami and Israel are doing everything they can to assist and resolve the situation,” he said in a statement. “The entire nation of Israel prays for the safety of those injured and missing in the disaster.”
He continued: “From here we send our support to our brothers in the Jewish community in particular, and to all Florida residents in general, and express our sorrow after this tragic incident.”
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett delivers a televised speech at Ben Gurion Airport on June 22, 2021. (Jack Guez/AFP)
Army Radio reported Friday that Bennett is sending Migrant Affairs Minister Nachman Shai to Florida and that he will leave Israel on Saturday night.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said he had spoken to Elbaz-Starinsky and the head of the local Jewish union to offer support.
“State Department staff in Miami and Israel are doing everything they can to help those on the ground, the injured and the families. This is a difficult and complex phenomenon and will take time to deal with. “We are at their disposal for any assistance they may require,” Lapid said in a statement from the foreign ministry.