It is commonly said that one can tell how civil a society is by how they handle their deceased. For most western civilizations, death is an enigma because as a society, their ceremonies and customs do not require them to embalm the remains. From this separation, western societies have come to fear death instead of looking at death as a part of life.
According to the World Heath Organization from the California Mass Fatality Management Guide, more than 100,000 people die in natural disasters and millions of others are injured or disabled. With gruesome images of bodies found decomposing many weeks and months later, the initial focus of the media is to paint the government and law enforcement agencies as “not doing anything” or “not doing enough”. In a time of natural disaster for the state of California, when it comes to law enforcement and local government the question should be asked: “How should the dead be laid to rest?”
The 2005 Hurricane Katrina stands as a grime example of how not to handle the dead. When the hurricane hit the south - east coastline, it destroyed many cities. For those who did not flee the cities they either died from drowning in the rising waters or died of starvation, trapped in the attics of their houses. Due to the lack of local law enforcement and government personal, thousands of dead bodies were left out in the open to decay. As noted in a presentation by Robert Gerber, Deputy Chief of Coroners’ mutual aid program, in one instance, a decaying body was found in a busy intersection and marked with a traffic cone as a police officer conducted traffic control. Although law enforcement was under staffed and over worked, this image is both disturbing and paints a negative picture for officers and government officials. With these pictures in their minds, families were outraged that the remains of their “loved ones” weren’t returned to them in a timely and respectful manner.
Learning from the mistakes made at Hurricane Katrina, a procedure is outlined in the California Mass Fatality Management Guide. In this guide a portion of the book outlines what law enforcement and government officials tend to do with the decease. It should be noted in a case of an incident, local governments rely a heavy amount upon by the federal government. Local law enforcement should not have to rely on heavy federal support to act upon an incident.
Once the federal government comes to the assistance of local personnel, the Department and Health and Human Services enacts the National Disaster Medical team’s DMORT team. DMORT stands for Disaster Mortuary Operational Response team. This team consists of private citizens trained in performing autopsies, identification of remains through forensic pathology, dentistry, or anthropology. As well they assist in DNA retrieval, tracking of human remains, and ante-mortem data collection. The Department of Health and Human service’s DMORT team is a good idea but more local law enforcement and government officials should be trained in the capabilities of the DMORT team. Local law enforcement should do the preliminary work before federal assistance is needed.
The California Mass Fatality guide also outlines a family assistance center were families can receive death notifications of their love one, counseling, and receive medical assistance. As well, other federal organizations like the NTSB or the National Transportation Safety Board have outlined what to assist families in a swift recovery of the remains. More emphasis should be placed on local and statement support than federal support in the time of a disaster. Though the California guide is a good outline to a natural disaster, it should be worked to place more disaster support in the hands of local law enforcement and government officials instead of state and federal support.
During a natural disaster, it is by placing more emphasis on local and state functions and instead of federal support that law enforcement can better manage a critical incident. For the state of California to prevent a controversial incident like Hurricane Katrina and the number of dead, it should broaden the focus of local law enforcement to handle more tasks of the federal government. It is by learning how to manage the living that society can better handle the dead.
References
- California Mass Fatality Management Guide: A Supplement to the State of California Coroners’ Mutual Aid Plan
- Mass Fatality and Search and Rescue presentation by Robert Gerber
- Photos by Google Images
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