What We've Learned In The First 100 Hours Since The Surfside Condo Collapse
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2021
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
NPR confirmed Alvarez's account.
An engineering report issued five weeks before that meeting warned of "major structural damage" to the building that would require "extremely expensive" repairs.
Jenny Staletovich with member station WLRN reports on efforts by rescuers, which include Miami's own world-renowned search and rescue team.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Around 130 in the morning on Thursday, 62-year-old Susanna Alvarez was lying in bed in her apartment. |
| 0:08.0 | And I heard a tremor. I really didn't think anything of it. I thought, oh, tomorrow in the news, we're going to hear about, you know, tremors and Florida. |
| 0:17.0 | But it wasn't even a minute that went by when it was my bed started to shake. |
| 0:25.0 | Susanna jumped out of bed. Her apartment, Acondo, is on the 10th floor right across from the elevators. |
| 0:32.0 | She grabbed her phone, opened her front door. |
| 0:35.0 | And there were no elevators. Just open holes. |
| 0:39.0 | And it was just a lot, a lot, what looked like smoke, which must have been dust. |
| 0:44.0 | And so I went around the corner. |
| 0:50.0 | And that's when I saw that the building was missing. There was nothing there. And people were screaming. |
| 0:58.0 | Susanna ran down the hall. She left her cat behind. There were just a few other apartments left standing on her floor. |
| 1:05.0 | And I banged on their doors. And they came out. And then I said, we got to get out of here. And I ran and I ran. |
| 1:11.0 | And we went down the stairs. And the stairs were all full of rubble. |
| 1:14.0 | And once they made it outside, Susanna remembers in the light of the moon, she could see the massive pile of rubble |
| 1:21.0 | were 12 stories of her condo building used to be. |
| 1:24.0 | And when we got outside again, all I could hear were the people screaming. They were screaming. Help, help, someone help us. |
| 1:32.0 | They were screaming. There were people alive in there. |
| 1:37.0 | Consider this. Monday morning marked 100 hours since the Surfside condo collapse. It may be the worst disaster of its kind in the US and at least 40 years. |
| 1:48.0 | An NPR recently learned it comes three years after residents were told the building was safe, despite evidence it wasn't. |
| 1:56.0 | From NPR, I'm Audie Cornish. It's Monday, June 28. |
| 2:10.0 | NPR's no compromise podcast just won the Pulitzer Prize. We explore a breed of gun rights activism that's online, organized and unwilling to budge. |
| 2:23.0 | I'm Chris Haxle. I'm Lisa Hagan. Check out no compromise wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 2:30.0 | Support for this podcast and the following message come from Nature Valley Grenola Bars, who believes the best energy comes from nature. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.