Sauveteurs Sans Frontières/Rescuers Without Borders offer their deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the collapse of a building in Miami.
12 days after the collapse, 24 people are dead and over 121 are missing. The authorities were concerned about the first responders safety so they blasted the rest of the building yesterday, before storm Elsa reached the Florida shores…
Sauveteurs Sans Frontières dispatched a team to the location while Search & Rescue were trying to find survivors under the rubble. They came all the way from Israel just to help, and save lives if they could. These Israeli rescuers have a solid knowledge of disaster because they have to live with war, terrorism and disaster, every single day.
The men and women of this team have various fields of expertise, and they are all trained to help and support PTSD victims. They have a long experience of PTSD, and the families could feel their genuine empathy.
This team was in Miami to search for survivors; they were on top of a pile of rubble and victims and they were removing rocks by hand, one by one…
A part of the team was helping the grieving families, to help them grieve and try to console them in their distress.
They also help identify the bodies, which is part of the legal process and is also necessary to move through the stages of grief.
The local media were there too to cover the disaster, with little hope for the people trapped under the rubble. They were interested in this team that came all the way from Israel to help, they wanted to hear about their experience of hardship.
The families of the victims were housed in 1 hotels. SSF rescuers were by their side to offer moral, spiritual and logistical support. They were able to earn their trust as they helped.
The only comforting aspect in this terrible situation was fraternity.