Coins, photos, kitchen utensils: pieces of life buried in a condominium

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SURFSIDE, Florida – Moshe Candiotti felt Champlain Towers South shiver in the middle of the night and ran out the door, taking next to nothing with him as he fled for his life.

Mr. Candiotti, 67, knows he was lucky enough to survive the collapse of the condo building in Surfside, Florida last month. At least 97 of his neighbors didn’t.

However, he cannot help but wish some of his personal belongings to emerge from the rubble at some point. Maybe the framed portrait of his mother. Or the gold and silver coins from all over the world that he had collected since childhood.

“They recover the bodies, which is more important than anything,” he said.

But as the endeavors to find those killed in the collapse draw near, so too are the survivors of the disaster and the families of the dead wondering whether it is souvenirs, heirlooms, or other memorabilia – signs of life and homes that are in the blink of an eye have been lost – may also be saved.

Some actually have it.

While search parties rummaged through the heap of concrete and metal after the building collapsed on June 24th, they collect and catalog the large number of personal items they find along the way, a huge undertaking with little local precedent that required creativity and logistics and extensive work .

While searching more than 26 million pounds of concrete and rubble, seekers came across everything from everyday items like kitchen utensils to valuables including jewelry, said Sgt. Danny Murillo, who leads the effort with about 20 Miami-Dade Police Department officers . They work around the clock in 12-hour shifts to record the findings.

“You have things that are not scratched and other things that are completely destroyed,” said Sergeant Murillo in an interview this week, dressed in a protective suit not far from the air-conditioned tent where officers spend their days Spend searching the items. (Officers wear the protective suits and masks to limit their exposure to the contaminants present in the rubble.) “It’s an endless flow of property.”

Items are tracked based on where they were found in the stack, which has been broken down into search grids. The officers receive the containers with the objects from the search teams and then distribute them on tables to find out whether objects fit together – for example a toy broken into several pieces. The items are then sealed in plastic bags, boxed and sealed in a shipping container.

Sergeant Murillo estimated that by earlier this week the officers had put maybe a hundred large boxes into four shipping containers.

Personal treasure included real treasure – thousands of dollars in cash that officers count and record as they would prove it.

But the more sentimental discoveries are the ones that tug officers’ hearts, like family photos and children’s artwork.

frequently asked Questions

It could be months before investigators figure out exactly why a significant portion of the Surfside, Florida building collapsed in the middle of the night on June 24th. But there is already some evidence of possible causes for the disaster, including design or construction errors. Three years before the collapse, an expert found evidence of “major structural damage” to the concrete slab under the pool deck and “abundant” cracks and breaks in the pillars, beams and walls of the parking garage. Engineers who toured the wreck or viewed photos of it say damaged pillars at the base of the building may have less steel reinforcement than originally planned.

Property boards and homeowners’ associations often struggle to convince residents to pay for necessary repairs, and most of the Champlain Towers South board members resigned in 2019 due to frustration. In April, the new CEO wrote to residents that the conditions in the building had “deteriorated significantly” in recent years and that the construction would now cost $ 15 million instead of $ 9 million. There have also been complaints from local residents that the construction of a massive residential tower designed by Renzo Piano next door rocked the Champlain Towers South.

Entire family units died because the breakdown happened in the middle of the night while people were sleeping. For example, the parents and children killed in Unit 802 included Marcus Joseph Guara, 52, a fan of the rock band Kiss and the University of Miami Hurricanes; Anaely Rodriguez, 42, who loved tango and salsa dancing; Lucia Guara, 11, who found astronomy and space fascinating; and Emma Guara, 4, who loved the world of princesses. A glance at the victims from floor to floor shows the extent of the devastation.

A 15-year-old boy and his mother were rescued from the rubble shortly after the building collapsed. However, she died in a hospital and no survivors were found during a two-week search and rescue mission. There was hope that demolishing the remaining structure would allow rescuers to safely explore void where someone might have survived. But only corpses were found. As of July 12, there were 94 confirmed victims.

“It can be tough,” said Sergeant Murillo. “We are all human.”

Developing a system to collect everything took some trial and error as the police never had to deal with so many items of unknown property from a single incident, said Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a spokesman. How the owners can claim their property is still being worked out as estates will likely be involved in bringing items to their rightful heirs.

Officials take special care of religious artifacts, often identified by a rotating group of rabbis who work side-by-side with the police in the sorting tent. Torahs, Menoras, Mezusas – the rabbis are on the lookout for anything sacred to the many Jewish families who lived in Champlain Towers. Bibles were also found, said Sergeant Murillo.

But bringing all of this to the people so desperate to be reunited with what’s left of their destroyed homes or the possessions of their lost loved ones probably seems to take a while. Survivors know they need to be patient.

Mr. Candiotti, who had only bought Unit 407 16 months ago, kept his coin collection in a safe along with his passport and other important documents. He liked coins because they felt like something of real value. (“I don’t trust the bank,” he said.) His grandmother taught him coinage as a boy.

“She always put gold coins and valuable things in her bra. Your bra! ”He remembered with a chuckle. “That was your bank.”

His mother’s portrait was hanging in the living room and had a “nice story,” he said. He used to own an electronics store in South Beach and kept a photo of his mother next to the cash register. One day a man came in asking for work. When the man told Mr. Candiotti that he was a painter, Mr. Candiotti bought him a canvas and commissioned a painting of the photo. He liked it so much that he paid the man $ 500 and has valued the piece ever since.

“Somebody told me if I could find a picture of it on the computer they could redo it,” said Candiotti. “But I have to see.”

“Everything has been destroyed,” he said. “When the ground shook, I didn’t think of anything. I was just thinking about my life. “

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