Expectations for Joe Biden's visit to Surfside 1:30
(CNN) -
US President Joe Biden, whose empathy in the midst of loss is his main political characteristic, arrived Thursday to comfort families in Florida who are enduring the excruciating search for their loved ones inside a building. by the sea that suddenly collapsed a week ago.
The devastating structural failure, which has so far resulted in 18 confirmed deaths with another 145 people still missing, could become the unintentional collapse of the deadliest building in American history.
The situation has raised new questions about the safety of skyscrapers that stretch for miles along the South Florida coastline, along with similar developments across the country.
Biden, who will be joined by First Lady Jill Biden in Florida, is awaiting findings from a team of six federal scientists and engineers gathering information on the ground.
He hopes to use the results of his research to determine how infrastructure, such as residential towers, can best be fortified against catastrophic failure, according to officials.
Minute by minute: what we know about the collapse of a building in Miami;
victims, rescue efforts and the impact of the tragedy
Expectations for Joe Biden's visit to Surfside 1:23
But before that, there are grieving families to comfort and exhausted rescue personnel to thank, a presidential responsibility Biden takes as seriously as any other.
"There is nothing worse than having to wait and wonder what happened," Biden said last week.
«This is a difficult, difficult time.
There are so many people waiting.
'They are alive?
Are they ... what will happen? '
And that is why our heart goes out to them ».
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Biden meets with victim families in Florida
The White House was still finalizing the details of Biden's visit Wednesday, but said it would meet with first responders and search and rescue teams to thank them, along with families awaiting news of their loved ones.
His agenda has more than three hours blocked to meet with the dozens of families affected by the tragedy.
He plans to comment from the St. Regis hotel later.
Afterward, Biden will meet with Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a top acolyte of former President Donald Trump who is considered a possible presidential candidate in 2024, during a noon briefing with other officials in Surfside, near where the event occurred. collapse.
The two men have mainly tried to sideline politics in the wake of the disaster, though Biden raised his eyebrows last week when he told reporters he was "waiting for a call from you if you need help."
They eventually connected in a phone call that one official described as professional and focused on giving Florida the help it needed.
Biden signed an emergency declaration that released federal resources and search and rescue teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
And DeSantis has appeared alongside Democrats throughout this week during press conferences near the crash site.
"They're all there," DeSantis said of the Biden administration during a news conference last Friday.
"So we really appreciate the president's support."
World-class search and rescue team in Miami has responded to disasters such as September 11 and Hurricane Katrina
Anguish for missing after collapse in Miami 3:49
While politics inevitably seeps into disaster relief, Biden has emphasized the need for bipartisanship to get things done.
While his advisers began planning a visit to Florida shortly after the severity of the disaster was clarified, the president issued specific and firm instructions that no visit would take place if it meant diverting a single firefighter or law enforcement officer from search and rescue efforts, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Over the weekend and early this week, officials were in talks with authorities on the ground to ensure that efforts at the collapse site were not affected by the requirements of a presidential visit, which generally includes a large contingent. from state and local law enforcement.
White House officials said they hoped Thursday's visit would be as apolitical as possible, rather than underscoring Biden's unique ability to convey compassion in dark times.
Biden's empathy in the middle of the duel
The president has long drawn to the sources of his own private grief to help comfort people facing loss.
His advisers have kept a file folder of dozens of eulogies he has delivered over the years, along with quotes about loss and grief that can be incorporated into speeches or talking points.
A Florida woman saw a crack forming in her condo and told herself, 'You have to run for your life.'
In Florida, he will take on a role that presidents have long assumed, with varying levels of aptitude, after natural disasters or man-made catastrophes wreak havoc on communities.
The partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South building clearly falls into neither of those categories, natural or criminal, although residents of the building have already begun to blame poor maintenance and neglect.
And while the hope of finding survivors fades day after day, it is still too early for Biden to officially mourn all those who have been lost.
But by traveling to Surfside, Biden hopes to convey solidarity and resolve, although much is still unknown about the disaster.
It will not be the first time as president that he has assumed the role of comforter-in-chief.
He has tried to correct what he said was a fact that his predecessor overlooked the hundreds of thousands who have died from COVID-19, including during a grim ceremony at the White House when the death toll reached 500,000.
«I know very well that black hole in your chest.
You feel like you are being sucked into it.
The remorse of the survivor.
The wrath.
The questions of faith in your soul, ”Biden said before observing a moment of silence in front of a candlelit south portico.
He spoke from experience.
Since the day he was sworn in as a United States Senator at his children's hospital bedside in 1972 after a car accident that killed his wife and daughter, Biden's personal and political life has been defined by grief. .
When one of those sons, Beau, died of a brain tumor in 2015, grief re-colored Biden's public persona.
She fought him publicly, even while considering a presidential race.
Throughout his career, he has tried to pass on the lessons he learned from his own coping process, including a widely used mantra that there will come a day when the thought of a loved one 'brings a smile to your lips before make you cry.
your eye."
Building collapses