Dispelling disaster myths about dead bodies and disease: the role of scientific evidence and the media

For decades, after nearly every natural disaster, fear of disease has encouraged communities, local authorities, and governments to rapidly dispose of the bodies of the victims without first identifying them. In May 2004 this journal published the first-ever review article to comprehensively assess the scientific evidence on the infectious disease risks of dead bodies following natural disasters, along with an editorial commenting on the persistence of myths concerning the dangers allegedly posed by dead bodies. This paper assesses the impact that the review article and the editorial have had on the way that health risks from dead bodies have been reported by the media over the following year, especially focusing on the South Asian tsunami disaster of December 2004. While some media outlets have reported erroneous information, hundreds of other news stories have accurately reported that dead bodies pose no public health risk, and have explained the priority for properly identifying the deceased. Nevertheless, publication of scientific evidence alone is insufficient to bring about public health action. International agencies need to continue their work on producing standards, guidelines, and practical guidance on managing dead bodies. There needs to be a community-centered approach to informing communities about the management of the dead following disasters and the rights of individuals to be treated respectfully after death. Nongovernmental organizations should be encouraged to provide expertise and technical support in identifying and burying large numbers of dead. There also needs to be ongoing assessment of the technical processes involved in the recovery, identification, and disposal of dead bodies, as well as the effectiveness of disaster preparedness plans and communication with the affected population. (AU)

One chance only : Advocating the use of archaeology in search, location and recovery at disasters scenes

The public has traditionally perceived the discipline of archaeology as being concerned with ancient ruins, treasure hunting and Egyptian mummies. While archaeology may have suffered from a perception problem, there is no doubt that the discipline plays a valuable role in providing evidence about both recent and distant past cultures. In the last decade archaeology has extended its utility into forensic, human rights, and mass disaster scene investigations. Archaeology has proven itself to be an effective investigative tool both nationally (particularly in North America and the UK) and internationally (in the investigation of war crimes in, for example, Bosnia and Croatia). To date however, there has been limited use of archaeological techniques in these areas in Australia. As with archaeology, the key issues in the investigation of disaster scenes are response and recovery. This paper examines the ways in which archaeologists can potentially contribute to an effective disaster scene response in Australia. The paper highlights the need for the formation of a professional body of forensic archaeologists who can be called upon to work with emergency services. Efforts to establish such a group are outlined. (AU)

The computer - assisted postmortem identification (CAPMI) system : A computer - based identification program

The computer - assisted postmortem identification (CAPMI) system was developed at the U.S army institute of dental research to facilitaterapid identification of human remains. The increasing requirement for dental based identification of high - energy fatalities and decomposed remains has dovetailed with the development of computer capabilities permitting automation of most of the highly repetitive chart-by-chart screenings characteristic of traditional identification taskings. This report summarizes the concepts upon which CAPMI is based. describes how it works, and reviews suggested applications and limitations. Capmi software is available to governmental, civic, or humanitarian at no cost (AU)

The computer - assisted postmortem identification (CAPMI) system : Sorting algorithm improvements

Refinements to the original computer - assisted postmortem identification (CAPMI) software algorithms and general data handling were suggested as a resultof observations made following the Gander plane crash of 1985. The presence of highly fragmented and scattered remains following most plane crashes suggested that changes to procedure might improve CAPMI performance for use in these types of disasters. A total of 162 ante - and postmortem dental records which had been used successfully to identify victims of the Gander disaster were coded for a anonymity and used for this investigation. Changes in data construction and management were made to CAPMI, according to concepts which were thought might improve system performance, and tested. Although most tested techniques improved CAPMI performance. The data suggested that replacement of "virgin" chartings with "data unknown" results in improved performance of CAPMI largely independent of other factors (AU)