How is a controlled demolition of another side of a building safe for any possible survivors in the side that originally collapsed?

Question

My heart goes out to the victims and their family members in Surfside, FL. I feel like there’s a simple explanation but I’m not understanding how the demolition of the other side of the condo building didn’t seal a possible survivors’s death with more concrete and rubble falling?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

Knock the remaining building down in the other direction so they can remove the ruble without risk of the remaining building falling on top of emergency workers searching for survivors.