The Miami Herald editor says, “We’re here for the long haul” as the search continues on Surfside

All Sunday the Miami Herald homepage was dominated by a single capital letter word: “SEARCH”.

The search at the collapse site of the Surfside, Florida condo continued around the clock. But the coverage on Sunday reflected the fact that there was very little real news to report. The cause of the collapse on Thursday is still unknown. The confirmed death toll is still relatively low and the catalog of missing people is still heartbreakingly high. So “LOOKING” is the current state as families, for whatever reason, are looking to hold on to hope.

“First, we extend our condolences to the families and victims affected by this unimaginable tragedy,” said Monica Richardson, editor-in-chief of the Miami Herald, when I checked in with her on Sunday. She said the English-speaking Herald and Spanish-speaking el Nuevo staff are working to capture the disaster through “words, images, videos, interactive elements and data”.

“This is our South Florida ward and we have a responsibility to keep the ward updated,” said Richardson. “It’s our responsibility and our mission. This is a newsroom that covered Pulse and Parkland for them to understand the pain. It’s hard work and grueling work, but we’re here for the long haul. This is a historic moment for the country and we are digging to find answers and coverage like only a local news organization can. “

last update

– The latest #s from the press conference on Sunday evening: “A total of 134 people were recorded, while 152 are missing …” (CNN) – Some family members were able to visit the rubble site on Sunday. Relatives of the missing resident Nicole Langsfeld “took turns shouting her name hoping she would hear her under the rubble,” reports CNN’s Faith Kamiri … (Twitter) – “Some engineers are now focusing on the bottom of the 13 story Condo Tower, where an initial failure could have triggered a structural avalanche … “(NYT) – Senator Marco Rubio:” Please pray for miracles here in Surfside … “(Twitter)

– Some family members are “angry and frustrated,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told Wolf Blitzer on Sunday night. Some still have hope, while “others realize that the opportunities are dwindling …”

Heroism gives hope in dark moments

“Every Sunday when I go to this studio, I pass a fire station,” said John Dickerson at the end of Face the Nation on Sunday. “It’s quiet this early in the morning, the firefighters spend the time having casual conversations or preparing their equipment. It’s almost as peaceful as it was in the middle of the Thursday night in the Champlain Towers South, just before the building collapsed. “.”

“That nightmare – which comes at the hour when we feel safest, sleeping in our beds – called the police, rescue workers and firefighters together, like the ones I pass every Sunday on my way to work,” he said. “In an instant, this protection community hurried to endanger their lives in hopes of saving the lives of others. Your heroism in falling rubble and live power cables gives hope to families and the rest of us in dark moments. ”, Baffled by what we see. It’s all too big, all the fear and the loss and the memory, even after one and a half Years of a pandemic, how thin is the membrane that separates each of us from tragedy.

“It makes me think of those morning walks by the fire station,” said Dickerson, “not because those moments are peaceful, but because these men and women, even when the sirens don’t wail, are dedicated every day to the preciousness of life, to saving people that they don’t know just because they’re human. The rest of us may never see an acute moment of danger in which we can be a hero, but we are all surrounded every day by people we are generous, compassionate and true to. In these tragic moments we feel our common human connection. We can honor these feelings by being like the first responders who see this human connection even after the tragedy has ended. “

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