Surfside building collapse update

Today, Miami-Dade County released the following update on the Surfside building collapse response and recovery:

Search and Recovery

The search and recovery efforts continue, and we continue working to dewater the lower levels of the collapse.

As of today, July 18, 95 victims have been identified and 95 families have been notified. 241 people are accounted for; 97 missing persons reports were opened with the Miami-Dade Police Department.

At this step in the recovery process it has become increasingly difficult to identify victims, and we are relying heavily on the work of the medical examiner’s office and the scientific, technical process of identifying human remains. This work becomes more difficult with the passage of time although our teams are working as hard and as fast as they can.

Out of respect for the families who are still waiting and to ensure we are reporting the most accurate possible numbers, we are reporting only the number of victims who have been identified.

Family Assistance and Resources

264 unique families have now received services through the Family Assistance Center. Over $450,000 in FEMA assistance has been distributed across all the families that have received individual assistance.