WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:08.760 Hey, what's up? Family, Latino USA is coming to Los Angeles. 2 00:00:09.440 --> 00:00:12.360 We're having a live show on Sunday, June twenty sixth 3 00:00:12.520 --> 00:00:16.079 at the Theater at the Ace Hotel, and we want 4 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:18.720 you to take center stage. 5 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:20.160 So here's what we're. 6 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:23.680 Asking our dear listeners, who are Angelino's what do you 7 00:00:23.720 --> 00:00:27.479 love about your city? What's your favorite spot? What makes 8 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:31.640 La such a special place for Latinos and Latinas and latinx. 9 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:35.720 Call us at six four six five seven one one 10 00:00:35.800 --> 00:00:40.040 two two four. That's six four six five seven to 11 00:00:40.080 --> 00:00:43.080 one one to two four and leave us your message 12 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:46.239 and we might play your call on stage at our 13 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:49.199 live show. Also, why don't you join us in person? 14 00:00:49.400 --> 00:00:52.400 The show is part of kpcc's Public Radio Polusa. You 15 00:00:52.440 --> 00:00:55.920 can buy your tickets at KPCC dot org slash Melusa. 16 00:00:56.040 --> 00:01:00.800 That's KPCC dot org slash BELUSA. Can wait to hear 17 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:04.120 your love notes to Los Angeles, Miss Getty Dosi Getty 18 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:07.880 das inos remos bronto la non de vayas. 19 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:14.880 The church is like right across the street, you know, 20 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:18.280 right in front of it, and I still have difficulty, 21 00:01:18.440 --> 00:01:21.640 you know, going past there. I get physically, I don't 22 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:24.399 feel well, my stomach gets tight. I get like an 23 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:27.320 anxiety attack when I see that big space where my 24 00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:28.120 building used to be. 25 00:01:35.240 --> 00:01:39.920 From futuro Media and PRX, it's Latino, USA. I'm Maria Josa. 26 00:01:40.520 --> 00:01:44.039 Today we visit the community of Surfside, Florida, on the 27 00:01:44.080 --> 00:01:47.400 first anniversary of a tragedy that's marked in our memories, 28 00:01:47.800 --> 00:01:52.120 the Champlain Towers South condo collapse that killed ninety eight people, 29 00:01:52.520 --> 00:02:04.000 including ten children. One year ago, this small beachside town 30 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:08.840 in South Florida was asleep. It was past one in 31 00:02:08.880 --> 00:02:12.880 the morning. It was the beginning of summer June twenty fourth. 32 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:18.080 But suddenly the Champlain Tower South, a condo standing just 33 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:22.120 passed a sign that welcomed you to Serfside, started to move. 34 00:02:23.160 --> 00:02:27.080 The pool deck went first looking like a Florida sinkhole, 35 00:02:27.600 --> 00:02:30.720 and then at one twenty three am, the section of 36 00:02:30.760 --> 00:02:34.600 the L shaped building that pointed to the beach collapsed. 37 00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:41.880 Twelve stories of apartments pancaked in about thirty seconds. Most 38 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:45.679 of the ninety eight people who died were Latinos and Latinas, 39 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:49.040 like a college couple both twenty one years old, who 40 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:51.960 were in town for a funeral, a twenty three year 41 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:56.320 old nanny traveling with the family of Paraguay's first lady 42 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:01.880 and three generations of an Argentine family who lived together 43 00:03:03.480 --> 00:03:06.839 to mark the one year anniversary of the disaster. We're 44 00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:11.480 visiting Surfside with producer Elisa Bayena. Her Cuban grandmother has 45 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:15.320 lived there for almost twenty years, and Elisa moved in 46 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:17.800 with her over two years ago at this start of 47 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:26.000 the pandemic. Elisa brings us a story now about memory 48 00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:30.400 community and how your relationship to a place can change 49 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:41.440 after a tragic event. From Surfside, Florida. Here's Elisa. 50 00:03:46.720 --> 00:03:48.360 Don't mean juntas. 51 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:57.360 I'm getting into bed with my grandma Datty. That isn't 52 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:02.560 her actual name, It's Norah, but she is such a dathi. 53 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:07.840 I'm her first grandchild, so I named her that, Okay, Pata, Well, 54 00:04:10.760 --> 00:04:14.960 that's making fun of me because I'm twenty three. I 55 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:18.320 want to get into bed with her. But cuddling up 56 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:21.880 next to my grandma as an adult makes me feel 57 00:04:21.880 --> 00:04:25.839 like I'm her cheeky thika. Again. When I stayed at 58 00:04:25.880 --> 00:04:29.280 her apartment in Surfside as a child, I used to 59 00:04:29.320 --> 00:04:36.640 sleep in between her and my Grandpapapito outside the beach snored. 60 00:04:37.640 --> 00:04:41.159 I could stare out at its blackness and white caps 61 00:04:41.240 --> 00:04:49.480 and cruise ships were the only light. Dati had been 62 00:04:49.520 --> 00:04:53.840 living alone for six years, ever since my Grandpapapito died, 63 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:57.120 but then I moved in with her. During the national 64 00:04:57.160 --> 00:05:02.000 lockdown in March of twenty twenty, she said, if COVID 65 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:06.560 didn't kill her, the isolation would. So I came to 66 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:09.280 stay with her, and I'm still here. 67 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:19.680 And diama faliha, maybe what lost. 68 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:27.080 Dati has lived in Surfside for almost two decades. She 69 00:05:27.200 --> 00:05:30.600 left Cuba in the early sixties with Bapito and their 70 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:34.320 first son, Jose. They had my Dad in New Jersey 71 00:05:34.520 --> 00:05:37.240 three years later and moved to Miami when he was 72 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:41.840 an infant. In Miami, they raised my Dad and theo 73 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:46.680 Jose in a suburb called Westchester, where windows were dressed 74 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:52.719 in iron bars. But in Cuba, Dati and Papito lived 75 00:05:52.760 --> 00:05:55.560 in Varadero and dreamed of having a home on the 76 00:05:55.560 --> 00:06:01.839 beach again in exile. It would take them about forty years, 77 00:06:02.279 --> 00:06:06.680 but they finally did it when they moved into this 78 00:06:06.760 --> 00:06:14.680 apartment in Surfside. Surfside is a town on the northern 79 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:19.040 end of Miami Beach. It's a mostly middle class area, 80 00:06:19.760 --> 00:06:26.239 but the town's origins are kind of bougie. A social 81 00:06:26.320 --> 00:06:32.200 club called the Surf Club opened in nineteen thirty It 82 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:36.760 was built by Harvey Firestone, as in Firestone Tires, and 83 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:42.160 was designed like a Mediterranean estate, with beamed ceilings proportioned 84 00:06:42.320 --> 00:06:47.880 for a cathedral. They unloaded cases of liquor onto the 85 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:52.480 beach during Prohibition and hosted fashion shows by the pool. 86 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:56.360 Some of their guests were the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, 87 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:02.120 Elizabeth Taylor, and there's photos of Winston Churchhill painting the 88 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:09.920 resort's cabanas. Surf Club members incorporated the area into the 89 00:07:09.960 --> 00:07:14.200 city of Miami Beach in nineteen thirty five, when there 90 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:19.240 were only fifty residents compared to today's roughly six thousand. 91 00:07:19.640 --> 00:07:23.160 The Surf Club is now a four seasons but most 92 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:25.720 of us who live here year round don't have four 93 00:07:25.760 --> 00:07:30.320 seasons money. We live in one story homes on cramped 94 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:34.360 lots and art deco apartments saved from the forties and fifties. 95 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:37.320 The condos on the beach can only go up to 96 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:42.480 twelve stories, and most of them aren't flashy like ours 97 00:07:42.640 --> 00:07:46.680 that was built in the late eighties. Our lobby has 98 00:07:46.880 --> 00:07:50.480 framed prints that are creased by the humidity, and we 99 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:53.280 have fire ants by the hoses that wash the sand 100 00:07:53.320 --> 00:07:58.360 off your feet. Our business and commercial district is just 101 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:05.520 two blocks. The writer Isaac Bashevis Singer, found out he 102 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:08.360 won the Nobel Prize in Literature while eating at a 103 00:08:08.400 --> 00:08:15.160 diner inside the drug store. That drug store doesn't exist anymore, 104 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:20.239 but there's a kosher bakery, a salon where they filmed 105 00:08:20.280 --> 00:08:23.760 scenes of the Real Housewives of Miami. I don't know 106 00:08:23.880 --> 00:08:28.560 if to laugh, cry scream. I mean, this is so absurd, 107 00:08:30.640 --> 00:08:35.199 and an Italian restaurant owned by the singer Ricardo montanaid. 108 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:41.920 During the week kids take surfing lessons and retired couples 109 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:49.720 sit and stare. But on the weekend, that's when families 110 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:55.200 bring out the beach tents, and meanwhile, feral cats lounge 111 00:08:55.280 --> 00:09:02.040 under canopies of sea grapes. Everyone here will tell you 112 00:09:02.400 --> 00:09:08.080 that Dati is a beautiful lady. She has green eyes 113 00:09:08.200 --> 00:09:11.080 that people remember her by, and a gap in her 114 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:15.440 front teeth. Like Celia Caruz. Her skin is covered in 115 00:09:15.520 --> 00:09:19.800 sun spots and moles from growing up in Baradero. She 116 00:09:19.960 --> 00:09:22.160 calls it her print. 117 00:09:23.520 --> 00:09:30.680 Then print kisor Tabano isleta form e la man la. 118 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:39.760 Dati's print kept her from the beach because she was 119 00:09:39.800 --> 00:09:43.439 afraid of the sun. So Bapito is the one who 120 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:51.000 took my siblings in me. He taught us how to 121 00:09:51.040 --> 00:09:56.960 break up big waves. He showed us that if you 122 00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:04.959 turn to the side, they won't knock you down. Dat's 123 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:08.719 always telling me that surfside has nothing on. 124 00:10:08.760 --> 00:10:12.480 Baradero Joe vahalam player. 125 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:20.560 I think she sounds like a Cuban snob when she 126 00:10:20.640 --> 00:10:24.719 says that, but I get it. This speech is man made. 127 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:28.559 None of us should be here. But she has been 128 00:10:28.600 --> 00:10:32.920 happy in Surfside because of the friends she's made. Their 129 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:38.920 retirees from up North, Orthodox Jews, Latin American immigrants polls. 130 00:10:39.880 --> 00:10:43.040 When Babido was alive, he would play dominoes in the 131 00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:46.440 mezzanine and talk for hours with our neighbors in the pool. 132 00:10:50.040 --> 00:10:54.760 Dati doesn't speak English fluently, so she communicates her guardigno 133 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:58.600 to our English speaking neighbors by touching their arms and 134 00:10:58.920 --> 00:11:03.000 sharing a pastica she makes with cream cheese, almonds and red. 135 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:12.160 Pepperria okay gor toyo group ingle Jobria was like Evasi. 136 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:19.040 Okay, maybe it's weird that I'm living with my grandma 137 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:22.240 in my twenties, but can you blame me? 138 00:11:26.400 --> 00:11:27.079 I don't know. 139 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:33.720 No, no, no, She's fine, and I'm right on the beach. 140 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:41.360 If my windows are open, the beach feels like it's 141 00:11:41.400 --> 00:11:50.680 pressed up against me. I can smell it's breath. A 142 00:11:50.760 --> 00:11:55.160 year ago, in the early hours of June twenty fourth day, 143 00:11:55.320 --> 00:11:59.760 was at the apartment alone because I was traveling. It 144 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:02.600 was past one a m. And she was praying the 145 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:06.840 Rosary because she couldn't sleep. The candle under her picture 146 00:12:06.920 --> 00:12:16.959 of Jesus was still burning, and then she heard an explosion. 147 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:25.160 She thought it was a bomb or maybe an airplane 148 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:28.720 that crashed into a building. She never ended up falling 149 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:34.600 asleep that night. Six blocks away, another Cuban named Maria 150 00:12:34.600 --> 00:12:39.440 Ileana montagu she goes by. Ileana was asleep in her 151 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:48.880 apartment at the Champlain Tower South. She's in her mid sixties, 152 00:12:49.040 --> 00:12:52.880 like that was when she moved to Surfside, and she's 153 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:59.040 una Senora. Like her nails are done, her lips are lined. 154 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:04.520 She went there's linen. Forty years ago, Ileana watched the 155 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:08.520 construction of the Champlain Towers South while bathing in the beach. 156 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:11.280 She thought it would be a nice place to live. 157 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:16.679 One day you sent you get Avireki. 158 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:22.160 She finally moved into the building six months before it disappeared. 159 00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:26.040 Her son lived with her, but she was also alone 160 00:13:26.040 --> 00:13:29.000 that night because he was staying with his girlfriend. She 161 00:13:29.160 --> 00:13:31.880 was in a deep sleep when she was awakened by 162 00:13:31.920 --> 00:13:34.560 a force that felt supernatural. 163 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:49.360 Ruidos avaloual burg a toruerla sala. 164 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:54.200 So once she's awake, she's like, oh my god, is 165 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:56.800 there like a ghost in this house or something. She 166 00:13:56.880 --> 00:13:59.120 then gets out of bed and goes to the living 167 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:02.079 room to see if maybe a sliding glass door was open. 168 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:06.520 It turns out a door was open. As she's trying 169 00:14:06.520 --> 00:14:13.080 to close it, she hears another crunch, this one is 170 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:15.079 louder them. 171 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:22.200 Handle. 172 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:28.680 When she turns to look, she sees a crack splitting 173 00:14:28.760 --> 00:14:31.720 the wall in two, and that's when a voice in 174 00:14:31.760 --> 00:14:39.120 her head started talking to her, run this building is 175 00:14:39.160 --> 00:14:42.960 going to fall. She quickly changed into a dress and 176 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:46.760 flip flops before running out of her apartment. She grabbed 177 00:14:46.760 --> 00:14:49.240 her credit cards and some jewelry she had left in 178 00:14:49.280 --> 00:14:52.640 the dining room table the night before. The last thing 179 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:56.080 she did was blow out her candle for La Vidhin. 180 00:14:55.880 --> 00:15:13.360 De a a borganar Tempocato mal Quin del PASII. 181 00:15:14.520 --> 00:15:16.640 There was a stairwell a few feet to the right 182 00:15:16.680 --> 00:15:19.640 of her unit, and that would have been a more 183 00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:23.920 obvious choice if she wanted to save time, but no, 184 00:15:25.040 --> 00:15:28.240 the voice sent her to the left, down the hall, 185 00:15:28.560 --> 00:15:31.360 past the elevators, to the other stairwell. 186 00:15:32.360 --> 00:15:36.760 You Infernald. 187 00:15:40.280 --> 00:15:43.280 She had only come down two flights of stairs when 188 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:51.440 she heard what she describes as an infernal explosion. She 189 00:15:51.760 --> 00:16:02.920 just knew it. The building was coming down. A twelve 190 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:06.920 story beachfront condo and Surfside abruptly collapsed early this morning. 191 00:16:07.400 --> 00:16:10.320 We still don't know how many people are missing. 192 00:16:10.560 --> 00:16:16.920 At least one person has died. Hearing the news of 193 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:22.040 the collapse was surreal. I just kept thinking, like, how 194 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:25.600 did a condo fall, and of all places, why did 195 00:16:25.680 --> 00:16:29.040 it fall in Surfside. I was working from home and 196 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:33.120 could barely focus, knowing that blocks away there were people 197 00:16:33.160 --> 00:16:37.800 trapped under millions of pounds of concrete, and it was 198 00:16:37.880 --> 00:16:41.960 the summer on the beach. It kept raining and it 199 00:16:42.040 --> 00:16:46.480 was sometimes ninety degrees, but fire and rescue teams were 200 00:16:46.520 --> 00:16:49.360 working around the clock to save anyone who might still 201 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:55.080 be alive. I didn't even want to see the pile 202 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:57.760 of rubble if I went for a walk on the 203 00:16:57.760 --> 00:17:01.880 beach path. Instead of going south toward the building, I 204 00:17:01.920 --> 00:17:08.560 went north. Maybe I learned this from my grandparents. They 205 00:17:08.600 --> 00:17:11.840 never returned to Cuba to see its ruins. Under a regime. 206 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:15.480 They fled. They thought they were better off protecting their 207 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:19.200 memories as they'd kept them, and didn't want to look back. 208 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:25.280 Illana told me that when she was finally able to 209 00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:28.560 escape the partially collapsed building and made it out to 210 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:32.240 the street, she remembered a story from the Old Testament 211 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:36.280 about a guid named Lot. God was going to destroy 212 00:17:36.320 --> 00:17:39.359 the city he lived in, but he wanted to save 213 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:43.560 Lot and his family, so two angels led them out 214 00:17:43.600 --> 00:17:51.920 of the city and gave them these instructions, s flee 215 00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:58.879 for your lives, but don't look back. When the sun rose, 216 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:04.880 God brought down a fiery, sulfurous raging, destroying the cities 217 00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:08.840 of Sodom and Gomorrah and killing everyone who lived there. 218 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:14.600 But Lot's wife wanted to see the burning landscape behind her, 219 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:20.640 and she disobeyed. When she turned to look, she became 220 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:22.320 a pillar of salt. 221 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:31.920 When we come back. We hear more from members of 222 00:18:31.960 --> 00:18:36.480 the community who are reconciling their town's identity and their 223 00:18:36.520 --> 00:18:40.840 collective trauma as a result of the collapse, and survivors 224 00:18:40.840 --> 00:18:44.040 tell us how they're doing one year after losing everything 225 00:18:44.520 --> 00:19:30.160 but their lives stay with us. Yes, hey, we're back. 226 00:19:31.040 --> 00:19:35.719 Before the break, we met Elisa's Abuela and Leanna, another 227 00:19:35.800 --> 00:19:40.240 Cuban exile who survived the collapse of the Champlain Towers South. 228 00:19:41.320 --> 00:19:44.560 Here's Elisa once again with the rest of the story. 229 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:51.359 Father Juan Sosa slept through the collapse. He's the pastor 230 00:19:51.400 --> 00:19:54.520 of Saint Joseph Catholic Church, which is the parish that 231 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:59.000 he belongs to. The Champlain Towers South site was close 232 00:19:59.080 --> 00:20:01.880 enough that you could see from outside the church rectory 233 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:04.560 where he lives, and. 234 00:20:04.600 --> 00:20:07.199 I was ready to do my morning walk on the 235 00:20:07.240 --> 00:20:11.720 beach when I heard all kinds of sirens and noises 236 00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:14.560 and trucks moving in and out of the area, and 237 00:20:14.600 --> 00:20:17.960 I thought there had been an accident. And then as 238 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:21.520 I began to walk my usual route, I noticed that 239 00:20:21.520 --> 00:20:24.280 that route was blocked. When we got to the beach, 240 00:20:24.760 --> 00:20:27.800 there was a bunch of people's so I moved over 241 00:20:27.840 --> 00:20:30.560 to them. And I met some parishioners, and then I 242 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:32.400 beheld the entire collapse. 243 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:35.520 He started calling everyone he knew who lived in the building, 244 00:20:35.840 --> 00:20:40.560 like friends and parishioners, but no one was answering. So 245 00:20:40.800 --> 00:20:44.080 then he checked the church records and counted twelve families 246 00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:48.040 who listed the Champlain Towers South as their address. He 247 00:20:48.119 --> 00:20:51.120 found out that two of those families no longer lived there, 248 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:56.440 and eight families were missing. Two others were safe. One 249 00:20:56.560 --> 00:20:57.760 was the Lopez family. 250 00:20:58.280 --> 00:20:59.440 What is your grandma's name? 251 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:02.200 My grandma's name is Nora Baiana. 252 00:21:02.520 --> 00:21:04.160 She goes to the Spanish Mass. 253 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:05.240 You both go to ten. 254 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:05.720 Am, right. 255 00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:09.800 Marian Smeraldi Lopez called me one evening in early May 256 00:21:09.880 --> 00:21:13.840 with her husband Alfredo. Alfredo was born in Bogota and 257 00:21:14.040 --> 00:21:17.520 Marian is from Brooklyn, but they moved to South Florida 258 00:21:17.560 --> 00:21:20.560 in the late nineties when alfreddo had to relocate for 259 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:21.080 his job. 260 00:21:21.520 --> 00:21:24.280 Our first choice was to look for a place that 261 00:21:24.359 --> 00:21:28.240 had a good school system and had a beach. Well. Yeah, 262 00:21:28.320 --> 00:21:30.720 and that basically led us to Serve sign. 263 00:21:31.320 --> 00:21:33.679 They lived with her son on the sixth floor of 264 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:37.800 the Champlain Towers South for twenty three years. Most of 265 00:21:37.800 --> 00:21:39.120 their son's life. 266 00:21:39.400 --> 00:21:42.760 I woke up to the apartment, you know, shaking. 267 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:45.800 I was bound, like actually bouncing in the bed. 268 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:49.159 We heard a noise, but I thought was like an explosion. 269 00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:54.119 That first sound was the pool deck collapsing into the garage, and. 270 00:21:54.040 --> 00:21:57.080 I remember Marion saying, you know, it's probably only like 271 00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.640 a bad, you know, bad storm or something. And before 272 00:22:00.200 --> 00:22:04.959 she could finish saying that, then we heard a huge, 273 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:07.000 a much louder explosion. 274 00:22:07.520 --> 00:22:10.240 When Alfredo opened his front door out to the hallway, 275 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:13.000 he was startled by the breeze from the beach. 276 00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:17.360 To the left of me, which is on the north side, 277 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:21.840 was our neighbor, Estelle, and she was an apartment six 278 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:25.720 oh four, and there was no apartment there. There was 279 00:22:25.720 --> 00:22:28.480 no apartment six soh three, six oh two, six oh one, 280 00:22:28.560 --> 00:22:30.840 six eleven, Yeah, the whole hallway. 281 00:22:31.600 --> 00:22:34.600 Eleanna, the Cuban exile we heard from in the first 282 00:22:34.600 --> 00:22:38.120 part of the show, lived in unit six eleven her apartment. 283 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:41.040 By the time that we got out, her apartment disappeared, 284 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:44.280 So you know how she got out that night. I 285 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:46.119 just don't know how she did that. I don't know 286 00:22:46.119 --> 00:22:46.679 how she did that. 287 00:22:47.480 --> 00:22:50.520 Eleanna couldn't know it, but following the voice in her 288 00:22:50.520 --> 00:22:53.080 head that sent her to the stairs furthest from her 289 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:57.359 apartment saved her life. If she would have taken the 290 00:22:57.400 --> 00:23:02.000 stairs closest to her, she would have and crushed by. 291 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:04.680 Yeah. 292 00:23:13.280 --> 00:23:18.000 Leanna is still stunned by the coincidences. But my grandma 293 00:23:18.080 --> 00:23:23.440 told me that there's no such thing as only gau salidal. 294 00:23:24.680 --> 00:23:27.240 It's a play on words in Spanish meaning there are 295 00:23:27.280 --> 00:23:31.920 no coincidences, just chains of events reactions. 296 00:23:33.040 --> 00:23:38.200 So my name is Hilary Feldman and I am a psychologist. 297 00:23:38.760 --> 00:23:42.600 Hillary is trained to respond to traumatic events. She lives 298 00:23:42.600 --> 00:23:45.399 on the top floor of my building, and even though 299 00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:48.920 I hadn't met her until now, I recognized her from 300 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:55.119 the beach. Yes, no, now that you say that she's 301 00:23:55.480 --> 00:24:00.600 always there, that my black and white Strea. The morning 302 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:04.399 of the collapse, Hillary walked over to the Surfside Community Center, 303 00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:07.879 which is on our block, but be those used to 304 00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:10.960 take me to the pool. There it was being used 305 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:14.920 as a reunification center for residents who were evacuated and 306 00:24:15.080 --> 00:24:19.359 the families of those who were unaccounted for. A vacation 307 00:24:19.520 --> 00:24:23.639 rental next door to the Champlain Towers South was also evacuated, 308 00:24:24.200 --> 00:24:27.080 and Hillary noticed that no one was helping that group. 309 00:24:27.520 --> 00:24:29.919 I just went around the room too as many people 310 00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:32.600 as I could, just saying that I was a community member, 311 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:35.359 I was a psychologist, and just wanted to find out 312 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:36.280 how they were doing. 313 00:24:37.080 --> 00:24:40.320 Still, Hillary felt like there was more she could be doing, 314 00:24:41.320 --> 00:24:44.120 so she signed up for the Red Cross and now 315 00:24:44.200 --> 00:24:48.639 volunteers as a disaster mental health worker. She remembers that 316 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:52.080 it was a busy time in Surfside and the media 317 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:53.479 wasn't always welcome. 318 00:24:54.040 --> 00:24:58.200 We were flooded right for several weeks, and one hand, 319 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:01.159 it's important to be able to talk about it, and 320 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:04.320 on the other hand, it's difficult because it's like, are 321 00:25:04.320 --> 00:25:07.000 they being there just to sort of like, oh, we 322 00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:09.879 of this tragedy, Let's talk about the tragedy, and then 323 00:25:10.119 --> 00:25:12.480 you knew that they were going to disappear afterwards. 324 00:25:12.840 --> 00:25:16.160 Badri Solsa understood why the media should try to make 325 00:25:16.200 --> 00:25:19.479 sense of what happened in real time, but it was 326 00:25:19.640 --> 00:25:22.879 exhausting to him and the community. 327 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:29.160 Well, we were constantly hit by media. We were kind 328 00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:31.760 of tired. At the end of the day. I just 329 00:25:31.800 --> 00:25:34.000 felt that I had to take care of all of 330 00:25:34.040 --> 00:25:35.440 these situations. 331 00:25:36.080 --> 00:25:39.760 As the bodies of former parishioners were recovered and identified 332 00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:44.480 Badri Sosa then occupied another public role that the media 333 00:25:44.520 --> 00:25:46.640 wanted to cover too, and. 334 00:25:46.560 --> 00:25:54.480 Then the funerals began. The funerals did not become private 335 00:25:54.600 --> 00:25:58.560 events as you and I know, they became public events 336 00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:06.040 for me as the priest our pastor of the area. 337 00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:09.920 Was something that had to be done and I did 338 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:11.320 the best I could. 339 00:26:12.280 --> 00:26:16.320 He gave the funeral mass for the Guada family, mom, 340 00:26:16.800 --> 00:26:21.280 dad and their two young daughters. 341 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:23.200 More than ever before they are and all the ones 342 00:26:23.240 --> 00:26:26.520 who haven't been found yet, members of our parish who 343 00:26:26.560 --> 00:26:27.280 are still missed. 344 00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:36.880 Bas He also participated in the service for ninety two 345 00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:41.679 year old Ilda Noriega. Ilda lived across the hall from Iliana, 346 00:26:41.960 --> 00:26:47.120 the Cuban survivor. She remembers Ilda as an adorable yehita 347 00:26:47.520 --> 00:26:53.840 whose hearing was really bad. 348 00:26:50.520 --> 00:26:54.320 Y yes. 349 00:26:57.960 --> 00:27:00.680 Ileana is now living about ten minutes it's away from 350 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:06.600 surfside at another condo on Miami Beach, is. 351 00:27:08.840 --> 00:27:09.159 Miami. 352 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:15.359 She's working at an assisted living facility to get out 353 00:27:15.400 --> 00:27:18.520 of the house and also because she needs the money. 354 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:22.720 She's sixty five and this is the first time in 355 00:27:22.760 --> 00:27:26.400 her life that she's needed a job. Her ex husband 356 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:36.240 didn't want her to work while they were raising their kids. 357 00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:37.800 Etal. 358 00:27:38.520 --> 00:27:41.960 She's had a comfortable life overall, even when she lived 359 00:27:42.080 --> 00:27:46.199 under a communist regime. She would travel often and if 360 00:27:46.280 --> 00:27:49.639 she wanted to buy a designer bag, she could, But 361 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.000 when her apartment came down, it swallowed everything she owned. 362 00:27:54.400 --> 00:28:10.960 Well, yuvachico aura parranquila. It okay. 363 00:28:12.280 --> 00:28:15.280 When she came from Cuba, she only had a suitcase, 364 00:28:16.400 --> 00:28:19.000 but she was a young mother and full of hope 365 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:21.600 for what her life would be like in a free country. 366 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:27.399 Now she doesn't have enough to fill a suitcase. The 367 00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:31.960 loss she's experienced is so overwhelming that some days she 368 00:28:32.040 --> 00:28:33.040 feels paralyzed. 369 00:28:34.200 --> 00:28:59.240 To Irigoa Maris del Mono leant animo altimento meni mi. 370 00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:08.840 Ileana tells me, I don't know what to do other 371 00:29:08.920 --> 00:29:13.000 than to try to live every day, and I want 372 00:29:13.120 --> 00:29:18.200 to have a motivation to live. But right now it's minimal. 373 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:28.680 Tran but it said Opera. 374 00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:36.360 There are pieces of her life that she feels she's 375 00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:40.640 lost too. She no longer has pictures of her parents 376 00:29:41.160 --> 00:29:42.600 or her kids when they were young. 377 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:48.440 The Lord. 378 00:29:50.480 --> 00:29:53.000 She doesn't want to live here anymore because she doesn't 379 00:29:53.040 --> 00:30:05.760 feel safe, but leaving will still be painful. Miami Beach 380 00:30:05.800 --> 00:30:08.520 has been her home since she came from Cuba over 381 00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:11.920 forty years ago. Even if she did want to stay, 382 00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:16.880 Iliana can't afford the real estate. Miami Dade County's mayor 383 00:30:17.120 --> 00:30:20.760 recently declared we are in a county wide affordability crisis. 384 00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:25.120 Less than two years ago, Ileana bought her apartment for 385 00:30:25.240 --> 00:30:29.720 about six hundred thousand dollars. Now, beachfront units and older 386 00:30:29.760 --> 00:30:34.400 buildings can go for one million or more. She's still 387 00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:37.320 waiting to receive funds from a ninety six million dollar 388 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:42.680 settlement that will be divided among surviving unit owners. Ninety 389 00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:46.480 six million sounds like a lot, but Ileana expects to 390 00:30:46.520 --> 00:30:49.440 get less than market value for the unit she lost 391 00:30:50.920 --> 00:30:53.320 in the luxury condo next door to the collapse site, 392 00:30:54.040 --> 00:30:58.120 an apartment recently sold for six point two million dollars. 393 00:31:00.080 --> 00:31:03.440 I will leave Miami Beach at the end of August. 394 00:31:07.360 --> 00:31:08.560 How are you good? 395 00:31:09.080 --> 00:31:12.840 Thanks God good. I met Rolling Pin Bakery on a 396 00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:14.320 Friday morning in June. 397 00:31:15.800 --> 00:31:17.600 BlackBerry does cherry and you said. 398 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:21.560 It's their busiest day of the week before Shabbat and 399 00:31:21.880 --> 00:31:25.320 regulars are picking up their orders of hala and bagels 400 00:31:25.360 --> 00:31:26.000 for the weekend. 401 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:33.200