07/23/2021 7:54 PM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 07/23/2021 7:54 PM
Almost a month after the collapse of the 12-story residential building in the Surfside area, on the Florida coast, authorities
officially ended the search for victims
.
The tragedy, which occurred on June 24
, has so far left
97 fatalities
and at least one person considered missing has yet to be identified.
Firefighters left the site where the South Champlain Tower collapsed around noon in the region, local media reported.
"Providing closure to families was the ultimate test for everyone here and I think we
did everything we could
to achieve it," Scott Dean, Florida Task Force 2 leader, told local media.
The walls of an underground parking garage are still in place, around a hollowed-out foundation, the press said, adding that Miami-Dade County will bring equipment to help shore up the remaining underground walls for safety reasons.
The victims and relatives of the 97 deceased will initially receive 150 million dollars
Victims and families who suffered losses from the collapse will initially receive
a minimum compensation of $ 150 million
, a judge said Wednesday, July 21.
Magistrate Michael Hanzman indicated in a hearing that the amount will come from the insurance disbursement of the Champlain Towers South and the foreseeable sale of the land where the condominium was erected.
In addition, he explained that the figure does not include what results from the multiple collective lawsuits filed after the event in which at least 97 people died, 95 of them identified by local authorities.
If the victims and relatives wanted, all those complaints can be consolidated into a single class action lawsuit that covers all those affected, added the judge in charge of the case.
What will they do in that field
The victims, relatives and owners of some of the more than 130 apartments that housed the condominium expressed their views on what to do on the land valued at about 100 million dollars.
While some want a new condominium to be built on the site that can be inhabited, others disagreed and, on the contrary, proposed that a memorial be built there.
Some pointed out that both options are compatible and that on the land, on the beachfront, a new residential building can be erected that at the same time includes a memorial in honor of the victims and those affected.
"A lot of people feel like they would like to get their home back," Oren Cytrynbaum told the hearing.
They debate whether to build a new building or a memorial
This owner of a Champlain Towers South apartment stressed that today for many it would be a "mission impossible" to return to have a property like the one they had in the condominium, "considering the prices of the houses, especially the properties facing the sea." .
The magistrate pointed out that all options must be taken into account, but without letting time pass in view of the fact that the victims need monetary compensation to rebuild their lives.
Among the victims of the event, in addition to Americans, there are Argentines, Cubans, Uruguayans, Colombians, Chileans, Venezuelans, Paraguayans and Israelis, among other nationalities.
Look also
Landslide in Miami: those affected will receive at least US $ 150 million in compensation
Why were there no more survivors of the collapse in Miami? The fault detected by an Argentine architect