Nearly two weeks later, and still dozens of people remain unaccounted for in the Surfside condo collapse.

“The scope of this is enormous,” said Max Houck, a forensic anthropologist with the National Forensic Science Technology Center in Largo.

It’s not a scenario Houck is a stranger to.

He’s dealt with a number of mass casualty events, and he says his job never gets any easier.

“These are people’s homes that you’re digging through, it’s their lives,” said Houck.

And now that officials have announced their rescue mission is a recovery mission, it’s up to forensics teams like this one to help identify the victims.

“What this technology does is it brings the power of DNA to the site,” said forensic biologist Robert O’Brien.

O’Brien explains the technology, which is only about two years old, can process DNA samples on the scene in a fraction of the time it takes to process a sample the traditional way.

“Because of how easy these instruments are to use, you can train someone how to use them in less than 30 minutes,"  said O’Brien. "So what that means is you can have first responders actually running these samples as opposed to having to fly scientists down there and setting up a lab.”

A DNA sample is placed in a cartridge and put into the machine.

Within two hours, the machine can deliver a full DNA profile.

“They’re collecting the samples from families as references, and the samples collected from the remains will be compared against that to determine, is this the individual that we think it is?” said Houck.

In this case, all samples will still be double checked in a traditional lab setting.