Show Notes
In the middle of the night on June 24, 2021, a 12-story section of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex roared to the ground, killing 98 people in Surfside, Florida. Collapse: Disaster in Surfside is a 12-part investigative and narrative reporting project; a co-production of the Miami Herald and Treefort Media. We’re talking with survivors, witnesses, experts, first responders, and journalists, to get the whole story of Surfside. How the building went up, and why it went down. We’re piecing together 911 calls, police body camera recordings, surveillance footage, and forensic engineers digging deep into the evidence to find the truth. What went wrong? Who’s going to be held accountable? Could something like Surfside happen again? We’re looking for answers. And we’re meeting the people who called it home. We’re getting the stories of the lives lived and lost there. All this and more through the reporting of the Miami Herald, its partners, and host Paul Beban. New episodes release every Wednesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from Collapse: Disaster in Surfside
*** First episode drops this summer ***
On the morning of the collapse, at an emergency editorial meeting, before they even knew the scale of the loss of life, the editors at the Miami Herald made a commitment to write a full obituary of every single person who died in this unthinkable tragedy. In the twelfth and final episode of Collapse: Disaster in Surfside, we honor the memory of the victims of one of the worst structural failures in history, and hear from the editors and writers who carefully compiled 98 life stories, as well as the life story of the community of Champlain Towers South, which vanished in an instant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Miami Herald’s investigative team unearths an exclusive story in the eleventh episode of Collapse: Disaster in Surfside. Large cracks in massive planters on the pool deck were noticed by the Champlain Towers' building manager, who alerted the structural engineer in charge of repairing the building for its 40-year certification—but nothing was done. Experts interviewed by the Herald say it was a missed warning sign —a fatal misdiagnosis—and that had emergency action been taken, 98 lives may not have been lost. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In 2015, construction on an ultra-luxury high-rise condo named 87 Park got underway just 15 feet from Champlain Towers South. Champlain’s residents howled about the noise, vibrations, dust, disruption, and worried about potential damage to their building—but found that because it was just over the municipal border between Surfside and Miami Beach, there was little they could do about their unwelcome new neighbor. In the tenth episode of Collapse: Disaster in Surfside, we take a deep historical dive into the bad relations between these two buildings—right next door to each other but worlds apart, economically and politically. In the aftermath of the disaster, the developers and general contractor of 87 Park were among the targets of the class-action lawsuit filed by survivors and relatives of the dead, but have denied their work had anything to do with the catastrophe. Narrated by journalist Paul Beban. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How did Champlain Towers South come into existence? In the ninth episode of Collapse: Disaster in Surfside, we profile the men who developed, designed and built this apartment complex. And, we also trace the building boom in south Florida that fueled condo construction there in the late 1970's and early 80's. At the time, Surfside was a small seaside town of low-rise buildings with money troubles, insufficient infrastructure, and outsized political dysfunction—until a group of Canadian developers stepped in with the plans, financing and motivation to erect big buildings in tiny Surfside. Were corners cut? Mistakes missed? Are other buildings still at risk? Narrated by journalist Paul Beban. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices