KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. — The people who died in the Surfside condominium collapse were remembered in a memorial service off of the South Florida coast with a plaque installed at an underwater memorial site.
News outlets reported that relatives and friends took part in the ceremony on Sunday at the Neptune Memorial Reef off of Key Biscayne.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava also attended the ceremony.
The plaque honors the 98 people killed in the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South early in the morning of June 24.
The remaining portions of the building were later imploded.
The 16-acre reef with several underwater monuments named "Neptune Memorial Reef" was created to "promote marine life while honoring people who’ve passed away," The Associated Press reports.
"As our community continues to grieve and begin the long healing process from the tragedy at Champlain Towers South, the Neptune Memorial Reef is committed to ensuring the lives lost will always be remembered," AP reports Neptune Memorial Reef's Community Resource Director Michael Tabers told NBC6.
“Our mission has always been ‘creating life, after life.’”
Since the building collapse, a task force assembled by the Florida Bar is calling for stricter safety protocol.
Some of the main safety changes they are hoping to implement include timely maintenance to condo buildings and structural report updates every five years by an engineer or architect. That would apply to most buildings over three stories tall. The board is also pursuing actions to give the associations that run the condos more power.
The bulk of the changes would apply to condos that are 30 years or older, accounting for more than 912,000 in the state. More than 105,000 are 50 years or older.
