Handle With Care
No one denies that dealing with a large number of casualties is a daunting task. But there are ways of doing it that follow scientific evidence, respect survivors' rights, and allow authorities to preserve their credibility with the population, according to PAHO disaster experts.
"Even with large numbers of casualties, every effort should be made to deal with bodies in a systematic way that both respects people's identities and gets bodies buried as quickly as possible," says Jean-Luc Poncelet, chief of PAHO's disaster program. For example, he says, "bodies can be laid in a simple trench with a small space between each one and a short description of the body and the evidence found with it." With this method, bodies can be exhumed later for positive identification.
To guide such work, PAHO recently published Management of Dead Bodies in Disaster Situations, the fifth in its series of disaster manuals and guidelines. The book provides both background and technical information to support relief workers in the proper management of bodies. Among its recommendations are the following:
- Inform the public that dead the psychological and physical bodies do not pose a danger of epidemics.
- Avoid mass burials and cremations under all circumstances. Bury bodies in a way that will permit later exhumation.
- Give families full access to bod ies and provide support for their final disposal. Identifying victims should be considered a basic human right of surviving family members.
- Avoid mass vaccination against diseases supposedly transmitted by cadavers.
- Respect the cultural beliefs and religious norms of the affected populations.
- Ensure that there is a plan for care of relief workers. Handling a large number of corpses can have an enormous impact on the health of the working team.