Emergency workers conduct search and rescue efforts at the site of a partially collapsed residential building in Surfside, near Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. June 29, 2021. REUTERS
SURFSIDE, Florida 鈥� Chiara Mauriziano rolled a suitcase into Champlain Towers East in Surfside, Florida on Wednesday morning, returning home nearly a week after a condo tower a few hundred feet away collapsed, killing at least 16 and leaving scores missing.
Mauriziano, like many of her neighbors in Champlain Towers East and other nearby buildings, awoke to a nightmare last Thursday. Around 1:30 am, Champlain Towers South, which sits on the same strip of beachfront as the building in which Mauriziano鈥檚 family has owned a condo for two decades, partially collapsed into a smoldering mound of twisted metal and fragmented concrete.
Mauriziano, a 20-year-old student from Chile, had stayed in a hotel since then, too frightened to re-enter Champlain Tower East until engineers had done an initial check of the building鈥檚 stability. When the experts reassured residents after inspecting the East Tower, which was built in 1994 and has different architecture from the older South Tower, she decided to return.
鈥淚n the building, it鈥檚 very silent,鈥� she said of the East Tower, noting that she had a clear view of the rubble from her home鈥檚 once-lively pool deck. 鈥淣o one goes out of their apartment. It鈥檚 very empty.鈥�
She hopes to move into a short-term rental while rescue crews complete the search operation on her block, she said, aiming to avoid the police checkpoints around the site and escape the sadness that hangs in the air.
Since Thursday, the streets of Surfside, an upscale beachside neighborhood on Miami Beach鈥檚 barrier island, have been lined with police vehicles, blocked by orange cones and police tape, and eerily quiet. From the perimeter of the rescue operation, a block from the debris, the faint sounds of crashing waves on the beach and rescue workers drilling can be heard around the clock.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a heavy, heavy week,鈥� said Ayo Fanoiki, 54, who lives in a 2-story building across the street from the devastation.
As they mourn the tragedy in their backyards and cut around police tape to access their homes, Surfside residents are grappling with the decision to stay or leave.
Some said they fear for their safety, wondering if their homes could be vulnerable to the same structural failure that destroyed Champlain Towers South. Others are haunted by the deaths that occurred on their block, and the ongoing search for their neighbors trapped in the rubble.
Gillian Brill, 50, who owns a two-bedroom unit in the South Tower鈥檚 architectural twin, Champlain Towers North, was out of town when the collapse occurred, but planned to return home this weekend and assess how she feels staying there.
鈥淥f course, I am apprehensive,鈥� she said in a telephone interview.
The North Tower, built the same year as the South Tower, passed initial inspections in the aftermath of the South Tower鈥檚 partial collapse. Brill said she is comforted knowing her building鈥檚 board has consistently maintained the condo, including rehabilitating the balconies. Still, she said, the scene of the collapse is 鈥渉eartwrenching.鈥�
鈥淚 plan to assess the situation when I get back,鈥� Brill said. 鈥淚 have friends I can stay with if necessary.鈥�
鈥榃e were scared鈥�
Authorities have not identified the cause of the South Tower鈥檚 collapse. Inquiries have focused on a 2018 engineer鈥檚 report that found structural deficiencies, and as recently as April, the condo association鈥檚 president warned residents that severe concrete damage identified by the engineer around the base of the building had since grown 鈥渟ignificantly worse.鈥�
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said he understood the safety concerns of local residents, as investigations continue.
鈥淭heir anxiety is not unfounded. In the United States of America, we just don鈥檛 have buildings that fall down,鈥� he told Reuters. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to find out what happened, because there was something very, very wrong at that building.鈥�
Fanoiki, who joined neighbors at a nighttime vigil for the victims and the missing on Surfside Beach on Monday, has remained at home, although she said the thought of her neighbors buried in the rubble was 鈥渄isturbing.鈥�
She expressed hope that the county would thoroughly examine her building鈥檚 structure to ensure its safety. It currently does not meet the criteria for the county鈥檚 ongoing audit of buildings over five floors and older than 40 years.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 make me so much rethink (living here) as hoping that the building codes are reexamined to make sure lives are never lost like this again,鈥� she said.
Julio Rumbaut, a 69-year-old former television executive, packed and left his condo in Champlain Towers East with his wife on Thursday and is currently staying at a hotel. He was asleep at home the night of the South Tower collapse, and he and his wife stood outside watching in shock in the dawn hours after the building crumbled.
Several of his neighbors also left that morning, he said.
鈥淲e left because we were scared,鈥� Rumbaut said. 鈥淎nd who wouldn鈥檛 be?鈥�
He plans to move back into the condo, just not yet.
鈥淚 think it鈥檒l be an isolated event,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I think it will make people more careful, between this, and weather change and corrosion and everything else, about having beachfront property.鈥�