Surfside Condo Collapse

[ArtieChokePhin]

I'm surprised no one is talking about this seeing as it's been all over the news for the past few days.  I have several customers in those buildings.  Anyone know someone who lives there or have some sort of connection there?

[Sunstroke]

I've lived in Florida for over 20 years and have never been to Surfside. I literally had to Google-map it when the news broke.

Hopefully, many of the missing will just be traveling or something.

[Phishfan]

I would think if I was traveling i would let someone know I'm not missing.

The thing that surprises me is I still hear it called a search and rescue. This is search and recovery now.

[ArtieChokePhin]

They've suspended the search and rescue/recovery due to structural defects in the building.  The building is now unstable.  The property management company is in for a massive lawsuit if it is found to have ignored the advice of the engineers a few years back.

[EDGECRUSHER]

They've suspended the search and rescue/recovery due to structural defects in the building.  The building is now unstable.  The property management company is in for a massive lawsuit if it is found to have ignored the advice of the engineers a few years back.

The building is 40 years old. Are you saying that engineers recently told them there was potential danger? If not, the guys who built that are either dead or way old.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I would think if I was traveling i would let someone know I'm not missing.

The thing that surprises me is I still hear it called a search and rescue. This is search and recovery now.

Calling it recovery is giving up all hope.  Better for the psyches of both the workers and families to call it a rescue for a few extra days. 

[Dolphster]

Calling it recovery is giving up all hope.  Better for the psyches of both the workers and families to call it a rescue for a few extra days. 

Exactly.  That scene is chaotic enough as it is right now.  And what remains of the building is probably still very unstable.  The last thing they want is to turn the scene into a huge mob of grief stricken family/friends when they are still trying to gather evidence, secure the scene, etc.  Such a very sad story. 

[Phishfan]

If people are still holding hope they are delusional.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

If people are still holding hope they are delusional.

Very unlikely anyone will come out a live, but people have survived longer than this uder collapsed building, so not impossible.

[pondwater]

A few days ago I saw an article somewhere that one of the families had received like 20 phone calls from their grandparents landline phone from the collapsed building. There was nothing but static on the other end. That's kind of creepy. But assuming it's true, someone or something would most certainly have had to somehow placed those calls, unless I'm missing something.

[Fau Teixeira]

So I read an article this morning that 5 of the 7 condo board members resigned in 2019 due to fighting over residents not wanting to act on the engineering report that warned of the structural problems with the building.

This is a horrible tragedy, and I feel sympathy for the victims and their families, but this is turning out to be a real time example of a group Darwin award.

[Dave Gray]

^ I don't think that's necessarily fair.  It's probably a host of problems.

But if there's an assessment of millions of dollars, I'm not all that sure that residents are keen to drop 100K per unit to fix structural problems and I doubt that individuals knew the severity.

It was also the HOA probably didn't do their job to push how required these fixes were and likely let them slide for too long, as well.

This will most likely lead to government involvement for safety standards of shared property.

[ArtieChokePhin]

It's being reported that the search has resumed and one of the responders found the body of his own daughter buried in the rubble.  How sad.

[Dolphster]

If people are still holding hope they are delusional.

True, but it is easy for us on the outside to see that their hope is delusional.  But when you are the person hoping that your loved one is miraculously alive in there, you hold onto that hope as long as possible because accepting the fact that your loved one is dead when their body hasn't been found has to be a hell of a hard thing to do. 

[Dave Gray]

It's grim, for sure, but people are found under rubble piles after long times.

Sometimes, concrete and steel falls in a way that you are not crushed...people drink rain water.  The will to survive is strong.

And as a parent, what else do you do but keep digging until you find something.