In the years before a section of their high-rise suddenly pancaked to the ground, residents of Champlain Towers South were working to address defects identified in a periodic structural safety review, an unusual local requirement for all tall buildings that reach 40 years old.

“It’s very strict,” said Kit Miyamoto, CEO of Miyamoto International, a global structural engineering firm “This is the first thing I’ve seen like that.”  

The Newsy investigative team reviewed building codes in seven major U.S. cities and found the more common approach is to require checking structural integrity only when a tower is new.  

After that, city codes diverge.

New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco call for routine checkups only of tower exteriors, where pieces might fall off and hurt someone on the ground. 

Definitions of a high-rise vary, as do how often re-inspections should occur: every five years in Boston, up to every 12 years in Chicago. 

Seattle re-certifies towers only after damage from an event such as an earthquake.  

Houston requires inspections of apartment buildings every four years, but not condominiums unless someone makes a complaint.  

The cities are following guidance from the International Code Council. 

The group’s model building codes don’t say anything about whether high-rises should be re-inspected, only that they should be maintained and stay structurally sound.   

That may change soon. 

“We have to be more diligent in the future,” said Dominic Sims, the council’s CEO.

The group is planning to meet in August to discuss the collapse and to consider periodic building inspections.

The council also will review any findings from investigators at the National Institute of Standards and Technology who are on the ground in Surfside, Fla. 

“We’re going to want to hear from the experts,” Sims said, adding there is a “very strong likelihood” the council will adopt new guidelines for routine re-inspections of high-rises, at least for areas in the bullseye of climate change with sea-level rise and stronger storms. 

“The forces that are acting on buildings are changing,” he said.

There is concern that new recommendations to regularly examine high-rises in all cities would be an overreaction. 

“It’s not really the right way to spend resources,” Miyamoto said.

If towers are built to code and weather-tight, they should "last forever," he said.

Without mandated re-inspections, in a condo building, it’s often up to residents to detect trouble themselves and agree to pay for costly fixes. 

While investigators are still determining what brought down part of Champlain Towers, condo owners had been grappling with repairs that an engineer warned would be “extremely expensive.”  

Sims said people will expect tougher building codes following the tragedy in Surfside.

 

“Just the mere fact that it did fall, and in the U.S., that’s not something that I think the public will accept,” he said.

This story was originally published by Patrick Terpstra on Newsy.com.

SURFSIDE, Fla. — On Monday, the mayor of Surfside, Florida, shared a heartbreaking account of a little girl who's desperately hoping first responders will find her mother after last week's deadly condominium collapse.

Speaking at a news conference, Mayor Charles Burkett said he was touring the Champlain Towers site on Sunday night and came across a little girl who was 11 or 12 years old.

"One of her parents was in that building at the time of the collapse," Burkett said.

Burkett said the girl was sitting in a chair by herself, looking at her phone, as dozens of dedicated first responders dug through the mounds of dangerous rubble just feet away.

"I knelt down, and I asked her, 'What are you doing? Are you OK?'" Burkett said. "She was reading a Jewish prayer to herself, sitting at the site by where one of her parents presumably is. And that really brought it home to me. She wasn't crying. She was just lost. She didn't know what to do, what to say, who to talk to."

Burkett said he hopes to see her again and wants her to know the community is behind her.

"I am going to find her, and I am going to tell her that we're all here for her. And we're gonna do the best we can to bring out that parent," Burkett said.

Surfside mayor talks search-and-rescue efforts

Officials on Monday said that 10 people are dead and 151 are missing, four days after the Champlain Towers South condominium building partially collapsed. Officials added that they've accounted for 135 people who were in the building at the time of the collapse.

Emergency crews are working around the clock in 12-hour shifts using K9 dogs, various cameras, drones, sonar equipment, and heavy machinery to clear away chunks of debris.

"There's a joint effort, there's a camaraderie, and everybody has the same goal. And that's to pull people out of there," Burkett said.

Miami-​Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said, at this point, there are no plans to suspend the search-and-rescue operations.

"In the end, there are numerous variables and facts. It's not based on opinions; it's not based on time," Jadallah said. "We have to consider all options."

A large wall on Harding Avenue, just south of 88th Street in the shadow of the Champlain Towers, is growing on Monday, showing the names and photos of dozens of missing people.

Family members, friends, and even strangers stop by to pay their respects, light candles and leave small mementos behind.

One person even made a poster that reads "Thank You For Looking For My Grandmother."

WPTV

WPTV

WPTV

A Family Information and Reunification Center continues to operate at the Surfside Recreation Center, located at 9301 Collins Avenue, for people who are unable to locate their relatives who live in the building.

Loved ones can open a Missing Person Report by clicking here or calling 833-930-3701.

If you live at the Champlain Towers property or you know a person who lives there who has been found safe, click here.

This story was originally published by Matt Papaycik on Scripps station WPTV in Palm Beach, Florida.