MIAMI BEACH (CNS) – Staff members with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami were on location and developing a response strategy on June 24 near the stunning wreckage of a partially collapsed beachfront high-rise apartment building.
As of early June 25, some 159 people who lived in the 12-story building remained unaccounted for, according to local law enforcement officials.
Speaking by phone from the temporary reunification centre for family, friends and displaced residents desperate for information about the collapsed Champlain Towers Condo in the beach town of Surfside, a senior director of community based services for Miami Catholic Charities said she arrived at the “ground zero” site the afternoon the collapse.
“I have worked hurricanes, but nothing like this: It is just a look of sadness you see on everyone’s face. It is heart-breaking,” said Jackie Carrion, who said her agency is making temporary Catholic Charities housing and material assistance available following the catastrophe.
She told the Florida Catholic, Miami’s archdiocesan newspaper, the reunification centre was buzzing with law enforcement, other charities and emergency response agencies, local religious chaplains including a Catholic pastor from Miami Beach, and distressed relatives and other people seeking updates on the situation.
The Surfside township north of Miami Beach is popular with a vibrant mix of South Americans, tourists, Orthodox Jews, Russians and others.
The Venezuelan Embassy in the US said on June 25 that it had learned six Venezuelan nationals were among the missing.
Miami Catholic Charities expected to add local counselling services for anyone in need and as members of the regional Catholic community began to say they knew someone who lived in the building.
At least four fatalities were confirmed early on June 25.
Rescue workers had recovered 35 survivors from the wreckage, including a teenage boy and his mother.
Law enforcement said they expected the death toll to climb higher as the slow work of search and rescue continued. The collapse occurred at 1:30 a.m. (local time) and left what has been described as a horrific pile of “pancaked” wreckage.
Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski pledged prayers for the victims, their families and first responders.
“We all woke up this morning learning about the tragic news of the partial collapse of a 12-story condominium in Surfside. Search and rescue teams continue to sift through the rubble to find survivors and to recover the bodies of those who did not. Our hearts go out to all those affected by the tragedy,” Archbishop Wenski said in a June 24 statement.
“Our Catholic Charities and local clergy have joined with other voluntary agencies and faith leaders to assist in whatever way they can,” the archbishop added.
Catholic Charities of Miami launched an appeal for financial contributions for those affected by the building collapse.
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