It seems like South Florida just can’t catch a break. From Hurricane Irma last year, the Parkland shooting just a month ago and now the bridge collapsing at Florida International University, there’s a lot of tragedies that we’ve been asked to give our attention to. And even though it may feel exhausting, we need to show support for the families that were impacted by the bridge collapse, the same way we showed up before because that’s what communities do.
After Irma, I remember several fundraisers to support people who lost their house and we all started talking about climate change. After the unthinkable happened in Parkland, the community rallied, raised money and forced a national dialogue to ensue. We all know that it could’ve have very well been us or our families in either of those situations.
It could’ve very well been any of us driving under that bridge on March 15.
After learning that at least six people have died as of March 16, including FIU student Alexa Duran, and with so many still missing at the time of this writing, it shouldn’t be a question that we show support in whatever way we can; whether that be through donating to GoFundMe pages set up to support families, or through an honest dialog about how this could’ve been prevented.
According to Local 10 News, the bridge was supposed to be built with “time saving technology” by a construction company that was being sued by Florida International Airport for shoddy work on a bridge there. Don’t let that fact fall through the cracks in the discussions that follow this tragedy, as we make steps to make sure this never happens again. Also, keep FIU, the victims and their families in your hearts.
