总统乔·拜登周四在佛罗里达州的冲浪场毁灭性的局部崩溃上周，一栋海滨公寓大楼倒塌，造成至少18人死亡。
总统星期四早上离开白宫，会见了当地官员，感谢在安慰受灾家庭和发表讲话之前参与正在进行的搜索工作的第一反应人员。第一夫人吉尔·拜登陪同他进行了访问。
索尔·勒布/法新社通过盖蒂图像
乔·拜登总统谈到了尚普兰大厦南楼12层的倒塌...
在下午的讲话中，拜登在会见正在“经历地狱”的受害者家属时表示，他的信息是“我们作为一个国家在这里支持你”。
随着日子一天天过去，在废墟中找到更多幸存者的希望越来越渺茫，总统说这些家庭对结果“非常现实”。
“他们知道，随着时间的推移，这种可能性会逐渐减少。但是，至少，至少，他们想找回尸体，”他说。
拜登周四花了近三个小时与这些家庭交谈，他说，他认为“与每一个想与我交谈的人交谈”很重要。
他说，他们问了“令人心痛的问题”，比如“我能找回我儿子或女儿、我丈夫、我表弟、我妈妈和爸爸的尸体吗?””“‘如果我得不到尸体，我怎么能在无法埋葬他们的情况下结束呢?"
“我和一个刚刚失去丈夫的女人坐在一起——她的丈夫和她的小男孩。不知道该怎么办。我和另一个家庭坐在一起，这个家庭几乎失去了整个家庭，堂兄妹，兄弟姐妹。看着他们，他们祈祷着，恳求着，上帝，让奇迹发生吧。让我有好事发生。”
拜登还赞扬了当地、州和联邦机构之间的协调，并称赞了第一反应者。
当被问及他是否进一步了解了倒塌的原因时，拜登说，“我们没有任何确凿的证据证明发生了什么”，并且有“各种各样的理性猜测”关于建筑的钢筋生锈和关于水泥的问题。
他说，这些家庭还提出了气候变化在崩溃中起作用的问题。
“有各种各样的讨论，关于他们是否认为水位上升，它有什么影响。对我来说有趣的是，我没有提出这个问题，但是有多少幸存者和多少家庭谈到了全球变暖的影响...他们不知道具体情况，但他们谈到了海平面上升。”
在早些时候与当地官员的一次指挥简报会上，拜登坐在佛罗里达州共和党州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯(Ron DeSantis)旁边，立即提出了一个很大的提议，以支付应对努力的费用。
拜登说:“我认为我们还可以做更多的事情，包括，我认为我们有能力，而且我很快就会知道，能够为县和州承担100%的费用。”这引起了迈阿密戴德市长丹妮尔·莱文·卡瓦的惊讶反应，她把手放在拜登的胳膊上。
苏珊·沃尔什/美联社
乔·拜登总统在佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯和事故指挥官丹尼尔市长的陪同下..
“我想州长会告诉你，他要求什么，他就得到什么，”拜登说，德桑蒂斯点头表示同意。
拜登花了一点时间转向政治，注意到两党合作的表现。
拜登说:“我们让全国人民知道，在真正重要的时候，我们可以合作。”。
苏珊·沃尔什/美联社
乔·拜登总统在与第一反应者的简报会上看着佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯..
在会见一群第一反应者时，拜登热情洋溢地表扬了他们。
“我只是想让你知道我们理解，”他告诉救援人员。“你现在所做的，简直就是拼命。甚至心理上。我只想说谢谢你。谢谢，谢谢，谢谢，谢谢。”
他还援引了三个个人故事来证明第一反应者在他自己生活中的重要性，提到了他患动脉瘤的经历，描述了他的两个儿子在车祸中被拉出来，车祸夺去了他的第一任妻子和女儿的生命，并解释说他的家在被闪电击中后烧毁了。
“你救了我的命。实际上，我的消防队救了我的命，”他说。
索尔·勒布/法新社通过盖蒂图像
乔·拜登总统向尚普兰塔南公寓倒塌的第一反应者致意...
周四上午，由于担心剩余结构的稳定性及其对机组人员构成的潜在危险，搜救工作暂停。迈阿密戴德县市长丹妮尔·莱文·卡瓦(Daniella Levine Cava)表示，在官员们评估可能的选择并确定下一步措施时，结构工程师正在现场监测情况。
“我们正在尽一切努力确保第一反应人员的安全至关重要，并在安全的情况下继续我们的搜救行动，”她在新闻发布会上说。
拜登在讲话中提到了暂停，并表示，确定第一反应人员返回工作岗位是否安全很重要。
“他们最不想看到的，也是我们最不想看到的，就是在努力恢复的过程中——还有一种可能性，有人可能还活着，有人可能还在呼吸，有人可能还在那里——你最不想看到的就是那栋建筑倒塌，杀死10、20、30、50名消防队员，或者打伤他们。我们的第一反应者，”他说。
官员们无法提供紧急行动何时恢复的时间表。
凯文·拉马克/路透社
乔·拜登总统和第一夫人吉尔·拜登在抵达迈阿密时从空军一号上下来.
另外，白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)表示，这次访问与当地官员进行了密切协调，以确保不会从搜救行动中转移任何资源。
“他们要感谢英勇的第一反应者、搜救队和每一个夜以继日不知疲倦地工作的人，并与被迫忍受这场可怕悲剧的家庭会面，他们在痛苦和心碎中等待亲人的消息，在搜救工作继续进行的过程中给予他们安慰。他们希望确保州和地方官员获得紧急声明所需要的资源和支持。
苏珊·沃尔什/美联社
2021年7月1日，美国总统乔·拜登和第一夫人吉尔·拜登在马里兰州安德鲁斯空军基地登上空军一号。
在前往佛罗里达州的途中，首席副新闻秘书郭佳欣·让-皮埃尔告诉记者，当地领导人敦促拜登夫妇周四访问佛罗里达州，称尽管搜救工作仍在进行，但时机已经成熟。
“我们从市长办公室、州长办公室、地方官员那里得到的信息非常明确，他们希望我们今天就来，认为现在是时候来了，不仅从他那里，而且从整个国家来提供帮助、安慰和团结。这就是为什么他和第一夫人决定今天来，他认为这是一个合适的时机，”让-皮埃尔说。
昌丹·卡纳/法新社通过盖蒂图像
搜救队在部分倒塌的12层尚普兰寻找可能的幸存者...
坍塌发生在上周四当地时间凌晨1点15分左右，发生在迈阿密海滩以北约6英里的海滨小镇Surfside的尚普兰塔南公寓。根据迈阿密戴德消防救援助理局长雷德·贾达拉的说法，海滨综合建筑的136个单元中约有55个被摧毁。至少145名居民仍然下落不明。
Biden visits Florida to meet with first responders, families impacted in Surfside collapse
PresidentJoe Bidenwas on the ground in Surfside, Florida, Thursday following thedevastating partial collapseof a beachside condominium building last week that has killed at least 18 people.
The president departed the White House early Thursday morning and met with local officials, thanking first responders engaged in the ongoing search efforts ahead of consoling families affected by the disaster and delivering remarks. First lady Jill Biden accompanied him for the visit.
In afternoon remarks, Biden said his message as he met with the families of the victims who are "going through hell" right now was "we're here for you as one nation."
As the days pass and hopes of finding more survivors among the rubble fade, the president said the families are "very realistic" about the outcome.
"They know that the chances are, as each day goes by, diminish slightly. But, at a minimum, at a minimum, they want to recover the bodies," he said.
Biden spent almost three hours Thursday speaking with the families -- saying he thought it was important "to speak to every single person who wanted to speak to me."
He said they asked "heart-wrenching questions" such as, "'Will I be able to recover the body of my son or daughter, my husband, my cousin, my mom and dad?'" and "'How can I have closure without being able to bury them if I don't get the body?'"
"I sat with one woman who had just lost her -- her husband and her little baby boy. Didn’t know what to do. I sat with another family that lost almost an entire family, cousins, brothers, sisters. And to watch them and -- they're praying and pleading that, God, let there be a miracle. Let there be something happen for me that's good."
Biden also praised the coordination between local, state and federal agencies on the ground and applauded first responders.
Asked if he learned anything further about the cause of the collapse, Biden said "we don’t have any firm proof of what happened" and that there’s "all kinds of rational speculation" about the building’s rebar being rusted and questions about the cement.
He said the families also raised the question of climate change playing a role in the collapse.
"There are all kinds of discussions about whether or not they thought that the water level rising, what impact it had. And interesting to me, I didn't raise it, but how many of the survivors and how many of the families talked about the impact of global warming... they didn’t know exactly, but they talked about sea levels rising."
At an earlier command briefing with local officials, seated next to Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Biden immediately made a big offer to cover the cost of the response effort.
"I think there’s more we can do, including, I think we have the power, and I’ll know shortly, to be able to pick up 100% of the cost to the county and the state," Biden said, eliciting a surprised reaction from Miami-Dade mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who put her hand on Biden’s arm.
"I think the governor will you tell you, anything he asked for, he got," Biden said, ahead of DeSantis nodding in agreement.
Biden took a moment to turn to politics, noting the bipartisan display of cooperation.
"We're letting the nation know we can cooperate when it's really important," Biden said.
While meeting with a group of first responders, Biden was effusive with praise.
"I just want you to know that we understand," he told the responders. "What you’re doing now, is just hard as hell. Even psychologically. And I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you."
He also invoked three personal stories to demonstrate the importance of first responders in his own life, referring to his experience having an aneurysm, describing his two sons being pulled out of the car crash that killed his first wife and daughter with the jaws of life and explaining that his home burned down after being struck by lightning.
"You saved my life. Literally, my fire department saved my life," he said.
Search and rescue efforts were paused Thursday morning due to concerns about the stability of the remaining structure and the potential danger it poses to the crews. Structural engineers were on-site monitoring the situation as officials evaluated possible options and determined the next steps, according to Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
"We're doing everything that we can to ensure that the safety of our first responders is paramount and to continue our search and rescue operations as soon as it is safe to do so," she said at a press conference.
During his remarks, Biden noted the pause and said it was important to determine whether it was safe for first responders to return to work.
"The last thing they would want and we would want is in the process of trying to recover -- and the possibility, there’s still a possibility someone could be alive, someone could still be breathing, someone could be there -- that the last thing you want to have happen is have that building collapse and kill 10, 20, 30, 50 firefighters, or wound them. Our first responders," he said.
Officials were unable to provide a timeline for when the urgent operation would resume.
Separately, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the visit had been closely coordinated with officials on the ground to ensure that it didn't divert any resources away from search and rescue operations.
"They want to thank the heroic first responders, search and rescue teams, and everyone who has been working tirelessly around the clock, and meet with the families who have been forced to endure this terrible tragedy waiting in anguish and heartbreak for word of their loved ones, to offer them comfort as search and rescue efforts continue. And they want to make sure that state and local officials have the resources and support they need under the emergency declaration," Psaki said earlier this week.
En route to Florida, principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that local leaders urged the Bidens to visit Thursday, saying the time was right despite ongoing search and rescue efforts.
"The message that we've been given is very clear from the mayor's office, from the governor's office, from local officials, which is, they wanted us to come today, think now is the time to come, to offer up, offer up comfort and show unity from not just from him, but the country. And so this is why he and the first lady decided to come today, and he thought this was the right time to do it," Jean-Pierre said.
The collapse occurred around 1:15 a.m. local time last Thursday at the Champlain Towers South condominium in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about six miles north of Miami Beach. Approximately 55 of the oceanfront complex's 136 units were destroyed, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Raide Jadallah. At least 145 residents are still unaccounted for.
